Sacred Valley of the Incas

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The Sacred Valley is so called as it was the main source of food for the Incas. The wide fertile plain was the bread basket for Incan towns and settlements throughout Peru. We took an 8 hour bus trip through the valley exploring the ruins of Pisaq and Ollantaytambo, large Incan sites. We also meet a local weaving community and sampled wine made from sweetcorn. (not recommended) Exploring the village of Pisaq we came across a baker making a South American staple, the empanada. These are pastry turnovers filled with savoury fillings. It was here we sampled our first empanada con quesa, (with cheese) It was just out of his wood fired oven and it was delicious. Also for sale was cuy, guinea pig to the rest of the world, even Vinny didn't have the stomach for that! He did have a go at trying to pat all the llamas and alpacas we came across but wasn't quite so eager when he learned that they tend to spit and their saliva causes your skin to blister, so he decided to eat one for dinner instead. The verdict on the alpaca meat - not great, even with sauce it was too dry and tough.

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