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Published: February 23rd 2006
The tout in Cusco (the main tourist town in these parts) assured us there was no way of getting to the Sacred Valley except by taking his 'official' tour, so, being seasoned scam spotters, we promptly dismissed his overtures and wandered down to the local bus station and got on the first bus for $1 and, lo and behold, it went all the way to and through the Sacred Valley! Mind you, getting back at the end of the day was a bit of a nightmare as hundreds of people were waiting for the bus (which was only small) and when it arrived the respectable queue of customers transformed itself into a mad scrum that would have struck fear into the New Zealand rugby team! And like the rugby ball we were propelled into the centre of the bus, where we were to stand for the next hour as the driver careered round the sharp corners of the Andean mountain range!
The valley of the river Urubamba, roughly from Pisac to Ollantaytambo and on to Machu Picchu, was sacred to the Incas. The road only goes as far as Ollantaytambo, from here the valley narrows to allow only the river
and the train to pass on the way up to Machu Picchu. There are huge Inca ruins at both Pisac and Ollantaytambo. We went to Pisac one Sunday, which was market day. They have a sprawling array of artisan stalls mainly for tourists but also fruit and vegetables are sold for locals. This place is very popular with tour groups, who do the double whammy of visiting the market then get ferried up to see the great Inca citadel on a mountain above the town. We too made our way up the mountain to the ruins, half way up we had to buy a ticket, however we were not able to purchase a ticket for this one site, we had a choice of buying a 10 day ticket which gets you into 16 different sites or a 2 day ticket for 4 sites. This is what I would call an official scam! We were forced to buy the 2 day ticket despite the fact that we didn't want to visit any of the other 3 sites listed, and, in any event, unless you were Richard Branson flying a supersonic helicopter it was physically impossible to get to all 4 sites
in 2 days! Still, the views from the top of the mountain were breathtaking and the ruins were very interesting. I was amused to find some local boys playing football in one of the ancient grand plazas, a tradition perhaps pre-dating Rangers-Celtic matches?
Forced into visiting a site the next day, we plumped for Chinchero at over 12,000ft (3700m), it is believed to have been a country estate for the Emperor Tupa Inca. There is evidence of a palace, a temple, ceremonial spaces, terraces and royal storehouses. The palace walls were constructed of large stones put together like giant jigsaw puzzles. Today there stands an adobe colonial church built by the invaders, the Spanish, around 1600 AD. They built it on top of the Inca Palace using some of the same stones. This was common practice in other parts of Peru, like Cusco, the ancient capital of the Incas. The inside of the church is one of the most amazing I've seen, its walls are decoratively painted and it has artwork from the Cusqueñan Art School. When we arrived the place was deserted except for a little girl who approached us selling some cloth, she spoke good English and
she escorted us around the whole village, expertly explaining the history and religious significance of the various buildings and sculptures! Needless to say we repaid her by buying one of her products much to her great delight! It's one of the great things about travelling, you meet some great entrepreneurs, either that or you are the victim of them!
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