We had a little time before our tour to the jungle, so we decided to check out the Sacred Valley and some more Inca ruins. This valley is about 45 minutes from Cusco and has a bunch of little towns near to some cool archeological sites. We settled on going to the town of Pisac since it is on the closer end of the valley and is known for its market.
We thought we’d catch the bus over, but after a lot of confusion and uncertainty about where we were going decided to get a taxi instead. Finding a cab was easy (and not as expensive as you might think!) and we had an uneventful journey over the mountains to get to the valley. As soon as we got our first view of the valley I knew we had made the right decision. I also could tell why it is called the Sacred Valley. Very steep mountains rise up on both sides and the whole scene is lush, green, and spectacular!
We spent the our afternoon at Pisac’s famous market (another wedding quilt fabric post coming soon!) and had some tasty coffee and dinner. The next morning we were up bright and early to take a look around the ruins. We grabbed a cab and headed up the mountain. Turns out that these ruins are HUGE. We had no idea how big they were going to be. After walking for 2 hours we still had not seen everything. The terracing systems were especially impressive and were absolutely enormous. There were also fortified areas, running fountains, a tunnel through the rock and spectacular views. It was right at the top of the hill and some of the paths were winding along the very edge of the cliff. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves. You can see why we were glad we had the chance to see this!
Impressive Inca Walls
Terraces - click to check out the close-up in the gallery
Hill Fortress
Hummingbird
The ruin is right on the top of the hill
Cool stonework
Justin on the tower
Orchids
Curves with the Mountain
Click on any of the above photos to see the rest of the gallery.
After the ruins we made a hasty retreat to Cusco in order to prepare for our next big adventure, a four day trip to the jungle!!!
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A Year Long Around the World Travel Adventure
Hi guys – happy belated Easter!! As always your journey sounds busy but absolutely fascinating. Chris and Cleighton are away down to badminton practice, just sharpening up for a rematch one day, haha. As always sounds like you are both really enjoying the world and luv the idea of your wedding quilt your mums making for u, very very special!! Take care keep safe luv your NZ buddies The Buntings xxx
A is Peru as traveler friendly as Chile? B Do Peruvians have a sense of humor? C Would I do well by the coast? D From the lack of comment, can I assume the beer and wine is poor? D Why doesn’t Google translate allow me to convert this to Aztec?
BTW, my question to argentinians should have been Messi or Maradona or DiStefani? Mind you, the great one is going back a bit… Love the CD, must have been fabulous live.
Safe travels and much love.
OK, senior moments… for Aztec read Inca; for Stefani read Stefano – the blond arrow to his friends (well, actually la saeata something or other)
Sorry about that.
rubio?
Something like that.
So good to hear from you guys! How are things in New Zealand? We’d love it if we can manage a badminton rematch when we come through in Dec. Have to start planning that one! Thanks so much for following our blog. We always love to hear from you!
Oh boy, that’s a lot to tackle. A. Peru is very different than Chile, and the advice I’d have to give is go to both! B. Peruvians definitely have a good sense of humor and we’re loving it here. C. You would prefer the rainforest. In fact you should absolutely go to the rainforest. Without a doubt. Like, as soon as possible. D. Try Quechua. D (number 2). As for beer and wine, honestly we’ve mostly stuck to the pisco sours which are spectacular.
So glad you like the CD!!!!