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Published: November 9th 2012
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After 2.5 weeks of sun and sea, it´s time to unpack the fleece sweaters and rain coats - helloooo Sacred Valley in Peru!
Luckily enough, altitude sickness hasn´t impacted us too much so far. Instead of using medicines, we have relied mainly on taking it easy, not eating too much, no alcohol, etc, and on the local specialty of coco tea. So far, so good! We felt a tad dizzy and tired on the first day, and on the second day everything seems pretty much back to normal. That is, other than the fact that we seem to be out of breath much more easily..
The surroundings here are beautiful, with the mountains, the river, and the Incan ruins with their terraces. The people are very friendly - I love it how the kids always say "Hola!"to us gringos, and even the haggling for taxi prices happens in good spirit. Starting with some time in the Sacred Valley is also supposed to be the best way to acclimatise to the altitude (as we´re "only" at 2800m) - that´s also why we decided to start our trip here rather than in Cusco.
We´re staying in Tambo del Inka, a
beautiful Starwood property in Urubamba. Urubamba is one of the key hubs in the Sacred Valley, but nevertheless a town of only about 7500 people. It´s not one of the main tourist towns though as it does´t have any major sites of its own. We arrived in Urubamba on the Day of the Dead, a holiday we knew was big in Mexico, but apparently also celebrated in Peru. It´s basically a celebration to honour loved ones who have passed away. And when I say celebrate, I mean celebrate! People were drinking beer and playing music in the cemetary. Quite an interesting experience!
On our 2nd day we hiked up the mountain to the Salinas de Maras, the salt pans near Maras which have been used to "farm" salt since pre-Inca times. It´s basically a structure of many layered pools connected, which are filled with salty water from a local subterranean stream, and then closed off to let the water evaporate. We wondered who "owns" the salt pans, and how this is managed. According to wikipedia it´s free to anyone to be a salt farmer, and pools are usually available. One just requires the permission of the local cooperative, to
follow the general rules. We decided to stick to our current careers nevertheless.. 😉 We then followed the path to Maras, which apparently is also taken every day by many salt farmers. Wow, quite the hike! Yes, it was mainly uphill (it dawned on us that it would have been much easier to do the trip the other way around, ah well, the benefit of hindsight..). The other way would have been easier, but even in the other direction it´s not quite the short stroll from the tube to the office that we´re used to..
Sunday is the day of the Pisac markets, so we took the local bus over and joined the masses. So many wonderful Peruvian weavings and other products were for sale, which unfortunately won´t fit in my backpack (making Stephen very happy..). The high tourist numbers have unfortunately turned the market in a bit of a tourist focused place, with some people in local dress asking us to take pictures of them (at a charge, of course..), but it´s still the place where Peruvians shop too, with many sellers coming from surrounding villages in the mountains.
Up in the mountains from Pisac, there is
also a beautiful Inka citadel. We decided to take a cab up and hike down (yes, I know, the easy way out, but don´t underestimate the altitude impact! ....and to our defense, most tourists take buses or cabs both ways!). The hike down gave us some amazing views over the terraces (the agricultural method of the Incans, allowing them to farm the steep hills more easily), and brought us by some much less visited ruins. So we were well rewarded for our extra efforts!
Ollantaytambo, our destination for the next day, is not only the start of the train to Machu Picchu, but also has an impressive Inca complex near the center of the city. It apparently used to function as both a ceremonial site and a fort. Although the town seems to be flooded with tourists (it´s also the entry point for the Inca trail hikes I believe), it´s still surprisingly cute with a very nice atmosphere. There seems to be something special, about these Peruvians..
And from Ollantaytambo we took our train up to the 2nd new world wonder on our itinerary.. (Ollanta being a name, and tambo meaning lodge/ resting place for travelers, so in
that sense its role as a gateway to Machu Picchu has been the same for many many years..)
Machu Picchu, here we come!
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