Peru Days 1-2: Pisac

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After flying all night we arrived in Cusco at 9:00 am and were picked up by our hotel and driven the forty-five minutes to Pisac. We were tired and adjusting to the altitude (going from sea level to over 9,000 feet overnight had given us both headaches) so we basically did nothing the first day but wander the market in the center of town and bit, drink water and coca tea (which is supposed to help with adjusting to the altitude), and rest.

We woke up our second day in Pisac and decided to check out the ruins above town. We walked down and got a taxi up to the ruins, but we didn't anticipate how much it would cost to get in, and only had enough money to pay the taxi driver and buy the tickets. The ruins were great, and it was a beautiful day, but we hadn't planned to walk back and so didn't have any sunscreen. And we didn't realize that there was a trail leading back, so we walked on the road, which took quite a bit longer. So we both ended up sunburned.

It was Sunday, which is the day of the mega-market in Pisac. The entire town square was covered with booths of various textiles made from alpaca and llama wool, clay pots, toys, leather notebooks, whistles and flutes, and all sorts of other stuff. All of it is billed as authentic, but much of it looks suspiciously the same and we saw very similar crafts all over the country. Which leads us to believe that there is a factory somewhere mass producing this stuff and it is then sold as "hand made."

Pisac itself is a really neat town. Located at the start of the Sacred Valley, it is a small town with narrow cobblestone streets, and the entirety of the town can be covered on foot in about a half hour. The people were very nice there and we had some great meals. But it is a tourist town, and it's strange there, as well as lots of places in Peru, to see the contrast between the condition of the locals and that of the tourists they cater too. It was definitely the right decision to go there first, as the laid back atmosphere and lower altitude made it much easier to adjust to being in Peru than had we started out in Cusco.

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Photos

Cusco
Taken on the drive to Pisac.

Michael at the Ruins
Struggling to get up the first of many stairs climbed on this trip.