The Sacred Valley of the Incas, including Macchu Picchu

After returning from the jungle and enjoying the creature comforts that Cusco has to offer (pretty incredible food here) we began our exploration of the Sacred Valley of the Incas.  Before heading to the valley proper we toured the most sacred Incan place known as the Qoricancha, located in the heart of Cusco.  This complex is where the main Temple of the Sun was located before the Spanish arrived, as well as temples dedicated to the moon, stars, rainbows and lightning.  The Spanish, once victorious over the Inca at Cusco in 1533, wanted to eradicate all Incan worship and so destroyed the temples to build a monestary and basilica in their place.  As usual the Spanish used the incredible Incan foundations to build on.  The main tower of the Basilica has been destroyed twice by earthquake since it was built, most recently in 1950.  We asked our guide what he thought would happen during the next earthquake - ¨ít´ll fall again, but the Incan remains won´t move an inch¨.  The architecture is truely amazing and has withstood at least three huge earthquakes without moving.

These windows have been in line like this since they were built over 500 years ago.  The Spanish tried to build on top have toppled many times over.  Currently there is nothing else built on them.

Examples of Incan stones used in construction.



The basilica tower, twice replaced.



We´d heard about some hotsprings a half day´s journey away at Lares.  We took off on the morning of the 5th on a local bus to Calca then waited a couple of hours for the bus to Lares.  Again the road played tricks on us.  First it was paved and fairly pleasant, however after an hour again it turned into a single lane track with ridiculous drops leaving us fairly white-knuckled for another hour but the scenery was incredible.  It was like going back in time with stone buildings and glaciers in view of the green valley we passed through.  After arriving at Lares we walked the 1km to the hotsprings.  I was expecting us to be almost alone - HA!  We arrived to a mass of Peruvians (a couple tourists but hardly any) running around the complex along with roughly 40 tents, soon to include ours.  The baths were great - super hot with fantastic views of the tight valley and surrounding mountains.  We don´t know if the baths were used by the Inca or not, but I imagine so.  We spent one night before catching a ride back to Cusco.

The scenery on the way to Lares was incredible.

You can see the little notch cut into the side of the mountain at right.  This was our road and is typical of Peruvian ´carreteras´or ´highways´.

The masses at the baths.

After returning to Cusco we had plans to meet with a friend (Julie, from Quebec) and her boyfriend (Jose, who owns a river rafting company and guides) for dinner but it turned out she was ill so couldn´t make it.  Instead he invited us to raft for the day free of charge the next day - sweet!  We met at 8am and were on the river by 11am.  Of the three times we´ve been rafting on this trip (Argentina and Chile also) this was the best both because of the river - none stop 3+ all the way down, not too cold - and because of the service (might have helped that the guide´s girlfriend - Julie - was in our boat!).  At one point Jose put our boat into a rapid which resulted, on purpose, in four of the 7 occupants floating down the river after being thrown out of the boat.  I now know what Elise looks like flying.  We finished the day off with Pisco sours at their house before meeting with Marc and Lauren for her birthday dinner.  No pictures of the rafting but it was super fun.

Next day we began our tour of the actual sacred valley.  Many people go on what is called the Inca Trail Trek which involves walking for 4 or 5 days on the old Incan road from Cusco to Macchu Picchu.  To do this apparently amazingly beautiful while difficult trek you need to book months in advance and pay lots of money.  We didn´t want to do either.  Instead we took a bus to Ollantaytambo which once served as a massive Incan complex halfway between Cusco and Macchu Picchu.  Here we toured the old imposing fortress and some ruins tucked away by the train tracks that other tourists rarely visit.  Apparently Ollantaytambo was much bigger than Macchu Picchu but was largely destroyed by the Spanish after conquest.  That night we took the train to Aguas Calientes which is the base from where Macchu Picchu is reached.  We camped in a field some 25 minutes walk from Aguas Calientes in total darkness and went to bed.  In the morning we woke up to an amazing view of steep jungle covered mountains crowding over us with Macchu Picchu perched on top some hundreds of meters up.  The sound of the roaring Urubamba river added to the intensity of the scene.  I had woken up at 4am to pee and had seen the procession of headlamps and flashlights moving along the road as people made an early beeline for sunrise at the site.  We had spoken with various local people in Cusco and Aguas Calientes who told us it was best to see the site between noon and 3 because there was less chance of clouds and crowds covering it.  After a lazy morning we made our way up to the site (another incredible/scary bus ride) at 1pm.  We got a guide with a group from Argentina so had to get the descriptions in spanish but we think we managed to get most of what was going on.  Archaeologists believe that Macchu Picchu was built as a kind of refuge for the Inca ruler, government officials and clergy.  No common people lived there.  Only 500 people actually stayed there at any given time.  Among the reasons for its appeal is after the Incan defeat by the Spanish it was left alone (i.e. the Spanish didn´t know about it) and then eventually covered over with jungle vegetation.  It was ´rediscovered´ in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, an American, who really just talked to the right local who informed him that his family was using the terraced fields and one of the buildings as a house.  Going to Macchu Picchu is expensive and no matter what time of year or day it is over-run with tourists.  However it is totally worth it.  The setting is incredible - imagine building such a huge complex at this height on a saddle between two mountain peaks - and the pride that Peruvians have for it is infectious.  Besides, how could we go to Peru for a couple of months and not see this world renowned place!?

The Fortress at Ollantaytambo

Often unseen ruins at Ollantaytambo

Our tent with a tour group´s and Macchu Picchu at the very top of the photo.

Macchu Picchu

Same

Same

Same

Same.  Great views up here.

They have 25 llamas that roam the grounds at Macchu Picchu.

The whole complex.  The highlights are the sun temple, virgins residence, amazing terraces, a sort of sun dial that allowed them to know when to plant and harvest as well as the priests´quarters and Royal Residence.  Incredible.

Elise enjoying Macchu Picchu before heading down.

The little white/blue spot down from the building is our tent, as seen from Macchu Picchu.

Aguas Calientes, the main town near Macchu Picchu, with the Urubamba River raging in front of it.  They must have lots of floods because we saw sandbags everywhere. 

  

Early in the morning on the 11th we took the train from Aguas Calientes to Ollantaytambo again and this time walked way up to the ruins on the other side of the fortress where some huge granaries had been left.  We decided to head to this site because 1) it showed advanced thinking in the case of drought or floods affecting crops and 2) because my folks had done the same walk a couple of years ago and I couldn´t be ´beat´!  Again the architecture was incredibly impressive.  From there we took a mini bus to the town of Urubamba, spent the night at a very nice hostel and then the next morning went with a couple from France to visit the Inca sites at Salinas and Moray.  At Salinas are hundreds of terraced ´salt makers´ that come from diverting a local hot spring.  The resulting salt was and still is given to animals.  That walk was about 30 minutes from Urubamba then we walked another two hours to get to the little town of Maras from where we took a taxi, the four of us with two Argentines, to the Incan ruins at Moray.  It is believed that Moray was used as a place for agricultural experimentation and perhaps sacrifices and ceremonies as well.  We walked back to Urubamba from Maras that evening and went back late to Cusco.  Visiting both sites was really great because of their surrounding scenery and the nice company. 

The huge granaries at Ollantaytambo.  Each was two stories.

Mike being a grain.

The salt deposits at Salinas.  They are still being used today - you can see the women working in the photo above this one.

Elise and Michel talking salt.

The typical views on our day out of Urubamba.

The terracing at Moray is thought to have helped the Inca with developing agriculture.  Supposedly there can be a 5´C difference between each terrace.

We came back to Cusco that night and the next day had our final visit to an Incan site at Saqsaywayman (i.e. ´sexy woman´) which sits at the top of Cusco.  The site was originally thought by the Spanish to be a fortress because during battles in 1536 the Inca used it as so, however, it is now thought that it was a gathering place and could hold up to 60,000 people at a time.  Our guide told us that when John Paul II came to visit in 1985 he used a microphone to address some 60,000 people at a special mass and the noise was so loud, due to the phenomenal acoustics, it scared everybody half to death.  The most amazing part of the site are the gigantic stones that were used it its construction - the biggest one is 130 tonnes.  Nobody knows exactly how the site was built but it is known that construction began in around 1200 and took some 70 years and 20,000 workers.  Of all the sites we saw this one impressed me the most simply because of the size of the stones used and the designs that can be found in the construction.  Our guide only showed us a puma´s paw and a llama but apparently there are dozens of others to be seen. 

Elise with Saqsaywayman walls behind her.  During Inca festivals there were no spectators - everybody participated.

This massive rock, some 100 tonnes, is the original stone in the entire complex.  From here everything else was built.

Our guide suggested this picture.  Hmm.  We are pushing on the largest of all stones at the site.

Can you see the Inca´s paw?

Elise in a doorway.  This doorway is some 12ft high whereas at Macchu Picchu they were only 7ft high.  Why?  Our guide explained that here the Inca King (i.e. the ´Inca´) needed to be carried around in a chariot and could not be seen by commoners touching the ground.  However at Macchu Picchu, which was reserved for nobles of government and religion, he was just one of the boys and could walk around wherever he wanted.

This is a shot of a corner looking up.  It is about 10 ft high and probably has 6 or 7 different stones in it.

Can you see the llama?  Hint - the triangle part is its head.

So that is our visit to the Sacred Valley.  An amazing place for sure.  However this whole country is dotted with all sorts of sites, Incan and pre-Incan, that we´re looking forward to seeing.  Today we´re finally leaving Cusco after first arriving here on March 22nd and we´re heading to Arequipa, Peru´s second largest city and gateway to the world´s deepest canyons.