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This morning we headed out of Cuzco aboard a private G Adventures coach for a full day of sightseeing in the Sacred Valley. First stop of the day was the Cristo Blanco Statue. Similar to the Christ The Redeemer Statue in Rio, the Cristo Blanco Statue overlooks the city of Cuzco with it's arms extended at the sides. The statue was a gift from a group of Christian Palestinians seeking refuge in Cuzco. When they finally returned to their homeland, the status was created to show their gratitude to the city. There was nothing too special about the statue but the views below of the city were impressive.
We continue driving towards the Sacred Valley and stopped in the small village of Ccaccaccollo. The main purpose of stopping here was to visit a women's weaving Co-op supported by G Adventures. This Co-op was set-up to assist the women of this village to supplement the incomes of their families. We arrived in the small village and were immediately given a quick demonstration of the various textile designs that they make as well as their meanings. Afterwards, we walked uphill into the town where we were given a demonstration of the weaving
process. Will their llamas and alpacas watching on, various women dressed in traditional fare showed us how the spin the wool and dyed the wool using traditional techniques. Although the main focus of the Co-op is the weaving, the Co-op also allowed the community to showcase their cultural heritage. After the demonstrations, we were allowed to wander the various stalls and purchase some of the items which the village women hand made. Wanting to support what they are doing here, I made quite a few purchases at various stalls knowing that what I was purchasing were high quality locally made products. After making my purchases, I fed their llamas and alpacas with the alfafa that they provided.
After that very interesting visit to the Ccaccaccollo community, we continued our drive into the Sacred Valley. After stopping alongside the road at an overlook with excellent views towards the Sacred Valley, we arrived at the Incan hilltop citadel above the town of Pisac. Although nothing strenuous, this was our first hike thus far of the trip. Most of the hike was at a gradual incline and at about 10,000 feet in elevation, some in the group were starting to feel the
affects of the altitude. One of the first things that you notice here are the awesome agricultural terraces the hug the hillsides that make you marvel at how the ancient Incans were able to construct all this in such difficult terrain. The ruins drew many visitors from all over the world including many local Peruvians but never once did it feel crowded or overwhelming. We arrived at the first viewpoint and a natural resting spot where Rivelino pulled us away from the crowds and gave us a very informative description of the site's history. From this viewpoint, you could clearly see the ruins atop the mountain and those of us who wanted to continue hiking were free to do so. Reaching the top wasn't difficult at all and we were rewarded with awesome views of the surrounding mountainsides and the valley below. The Pisac ruins gave us all a good taste of more ruins to come.
We descended into the town for just a quick little stop in the town of Pisac. Rivelino lead us through the market which on certain days of the week is jam packed with visitors. Today, the market was relatively crowd free. Since Rivelino
advised us that it was better for us to shop in Cuzco, we just wandered through until Rivelino brought us to a spot where he could give us a quick explanation on this history of Pisac. We were only in town for about 15 minutes before we were back on the bus heading to our lunch spot. Our lunch was at Parwa Restaurant, another G Adventures sponsored community development project. Located in the small town of Huchuy Qosco, we were served a full lunch made from locally grown produce including the best quinoa that I have ever tasted.
After lunch, we had a nice scenic drive along the Urubamba river to our next and final distination for the day, the town of Ollantaytambo. Also, known as Ollanta, the town is the major tourist hub for the Sacred Valley. After dropping our bags off at our hotel, the Inka Paradise Hotel, we are quickly off for another hike to explore another Incan ruin. Ollantaytambo is a very quaint and peaceful town as we walked the town's narrow cobblestone streets in the early evening. Rivelino lead us to the ruins and we all made our way up the terracing at our
own pace. Once we were all at a good meeting point, Rivelino gave us a very informative and captivating explanation of the Ollantaytambo ruins, the town, and the Incan people. It was clear throughout all of today's sights that Rivelino was very proud of his heritage and took great pride in teaching it to others. Those of us who were interested, hiked up to the very top of the ruins where Rivelino gave us more fascinating insight into the ruins as we enjoyed the awesome views over the surrounding valley. After exploring the ruins, we all walked back into town and met up in the main plaza. The plan was to meet back at the hotel in about an hour for dinner. Instead of going back to the hotel for an hour, some of us wanted to have a few drinks before dinner. Rivelino brought Kevin, Nin, Linda, Wilda, and myself to Pachamama Pizzeria where we got to know each other a little better over some cocktails and Cusquenas. By the time everyone else arrived for dinner, we had already finished a small pizza each and were all feeling a little tipsy. Some of us wanted to go out dancing
and drinking but Rivelino indicated that after last night's Halloween festivities, it was probably going to be a really quiet night in town. Later that night, I was playing Jenga with Tony from the UK back at the hotel when Nin and Kevin convinced me to go out with them for a little bit. We made our way over to Ganso Bar that where we downed a few Coca Sours. I didn't stay too long and when Rivelino popped in just to see if anyone was hanging out before heading back to the hotel, I decided to accompany him leaving Kevin and Nin to drink the night away.
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