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Published: December 27th 2007
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After a couple of days working up at the school it was time for us to go to the Sacred Valley and check out some more Inca sites. The Sacred Valley is about 15km (as the crow fly’s) from Cusco. The star attractions are the lofty Inca citadels of Pisac and Ollantaytambo which preside over its undulating twists and turns.
We were doing a two day tour, with Selvy as our guide again, and first up was a visit to Chinchero, a small Andean village known to the Incas as the birthplace of the rainbow. Coming into the main village square we were confronted with a large colonial church which is built upon old Inca ruins. Once again the Spanish had demolished the Inca site here, and to show their superiority and dominance they built their Christian church on top of the old buildings. We had a look inside the church and the interior was decked out in elaborate floral and religious designs. There were some amazingly old paintings in the church, and unfortunately they have started to become damaged due to the rain.
After looking at the church we went and had a look at the remaining Inca ruins
in the area. The majority of the ruins here consist of terracing. Apparently during the Inca period they had over 300 variety of potato’s. You wouldn’t want to have been carb conscious back then!! There is a bit of excavation going on here, and after scrounging around on the ground for a while we all managed to find pieces of Inca pottery. It’s amazing that it is still here after all this time. On the opposite side of the valley, Selvy pointed out numerous holes honeycombing the cliff walls on the mountains. This area was actually an Inca cemetery and the holes were Inca tombs. Unfortunately, most of the graves have been robbed and the mummies and treasures taken.
Next up on our trip was a visit to the small town of Ollantaytambo. This is one of the coolest little places that I have seen. The town looks like it has been transported from an Austrian hill side, with its narrow cobblestone streets and wooden buildings. Upon our arrival we headed straight to the Ollantaytambo ruins. The spectacular, huge, steep terraces that guard Ollantaytambo’s ruins mark one of the few places where the Spanish conquistadors lost a major battle.
Unfortunately, Ollantaytambo finally fell to the Spanish and once again much of the temple and fortress were destroyed. The temple at the top of the fortress had not been completed by the time the Spanish invaded. If it had of been, the temple would have been absolutely spectacular. The stone for the temple was quarried from the mountain side 6km away, high above the opposite bank of the Rio Urubamba. Transporting the huge rock must have been an absolute mission. From the quarry, they rolled the rocks down the hill and then they had to somehow get them across the river. To do this, they left the blocks by the side of the river, then dammed the river and diverted the entire river channel around them. Then they only had to get them up the other side of the hill to the ceremonial site. …..
After spending the night in Pisac, the next day we were off to visit the famous Pisac agricultural terracing. The terracing sweeps around the south and east flanks of the mountain in huge and graceful curves, almost entirely unbroken by steps, which require greater maintenance and promote erosion. Instead the terracing is joined by
diagonal flights of stairs made of flagstones set into the terrace walls. We caught a bus to the top of the terraces and over the next couple of hours made our way along the cliff hugging footpaths, step stairs and tunnels carved out of rocks, back to Pisac. During the walk we came across the sites ceremonial centre, with an Intihuatana (hitching post of the sun), several working water channels and some painstakingly neat masonry in the well preserved temple. There was a little hill on the other side of the ceremonial site, and it was nice peaceful place to get away from the crowds for a while. Looking down from the ceremonial site, you could see another Inca ruin, and this was built in the shape of a condor in full flight. Looking at it, you can see its head, two outstretched wings and its tail.
Once we got back to Pisac, we got to do the thing that us girls do best - shopping at the famous Pisac market!! Despite drawing tourists from all over the world, the market still retains it traditional feel. The stall vendors are all locals and are dressed in the traditional indigenous
dress. We set out to buy a heap of stuff, but the vendors were all hard bargainers and we didn’t come away with as much as I thought we would. Of course I did buy a few scarves and hand made alpaca beanies.… And you don’t want to know how many beanies I have now.
Well that was it for our two day tour into the Sacred Valley. It was back to work for the next week and then our next adventure was hiking Inca Trail.
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Dave Williams
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Happy New Year
Hey mate, Happy New Year. Keep the blogs coming. It's great to see you're having such a good time. Take it easy in 2008.