Tue June 18th Peru’s Sacred Valley

 

Today we headed off on the Sacred Valley Tour.   The Sacred Valley is between Cusco and Machu Picchu and is filled with ancient Inca sites.

The first town we visited was Pisac.  The terraces the Inca’s built for farming are incredible.   The buildings would have all had thatched angled roofing, similar to what you see in the photos.   The thatched roofs would have been supported by the stone walls and secured with ties to protruding stones.   Where replicas have been established, they have to be replaced every 5-10 years.

  

 

The second ancient town was Ollantaytambo.  Here we climbed the terraces shown in the first of the following photos, and yes, we made it all the way to the top!!  Luis, our guide arranged for us to be greeted by a spectacular rainbow when we reached the top. We also saw a lot of the incredible stone work.   Look at the angles in the rocks shown in the next three photos.   We ended the day with a demonstration of how the Peruvian women dye and weave wool into great designs.  It was interesting to note that the red comes from a parasite that lives on prickly pear cactus and when crushed is red pigment.  Other dyes come from plants and minerals.  We got back to Cusco quite late and were tired so were unable to appreciate the ambiance of Paddy’s Pub, the worlds highest Irish pub.  It was crowded and noisy and we had a quick meal and retired to our room to be ready for a very, very early Wednesday.