Wednesday, March 16: In the Sacred Valley

We had a nice breakfast at the hotel, although it took us a while to figure out just what was available and how we got the various items.  Some things you ordered, some things the staff had to serve you, and some things were “help yourself”. 

After breakfast, our local Cusco/Sacred Valley guide, Edgar, gave us a 45 minute overview of the Inca culture and history.  It really gave us a good background for what we would see over the next couple of days.

2655 Edgar giving us a good overview of Inca culture and Peru history.

We loaded onto the bus and headed up the valley to our first stop and a major Peruvian archeological site, Ollantaytambo.  Ollantaytambno is the name of both the archeological site and the town that is next to it. 

2680 Driving through the town of Ollantaytambo

Besides being the town at a major archeological site, Ollantaytambo is also the primary staging point for people doing the 4 day hike to Machu Picchu. 

As we entered the archeological site, I was expecting a relatively small set of poorly restored ruins, but I was very surprised.  This was a very big place and very impressive.

2695 First good look at the Ollantaytambo site…. Wow!

The size and complexity of the site was very impressive, but the workmanship even more so.  Unfortunately, the photos can only show a small section at a time and do not really convey the size and extent of the total site. The main religious area was at the top of the mountain and above the terraced levels, almost out of sight.  Unfortunately, due to COVID restrictions, we could not walk to the top and the main temple without then taking the long and somewhat sketchy way down (one way traffic).

2760 Only a third of the way up the terraces. 

We climbed about 5 or 6 levels up the terraces (of about 15), about a third of the way, and took a look around.  Looking up at the temple was somewhat dizzying. 

  2790 You can see some of the temple at the top of the photo.

But looking out over the town provided a nice view of the lower part of the site and the mountains beyond.

2780 There are storage bunkers carved into the side of the mountain.

Once we came down from the terraces, I thought we had seen all of the site, but no…..  There was another major area: no single part of this area was as significant as the terraces and temple, but it just kept going.

  2820 Another section of the site.

In this area there were several water features.  The Inca believed that one should be clean when going in front of their Gods, so there were several fountains and baths for cleansing one’s body and spirit.  

2835 One of several fountains feeding baths

Then I realized that all of this water “engineering” was functioning as intended over 600 years later.  Not bad!  The workmanship in the structures was amazing.  The Inca did not have any metal tools and everything was done by hand using stone tools, yet the stone blocks were almost perfectly flat and square.

 2870 Notice how perfectly these blocks are formed.

We explored the site for about 90 minutes and our brains were well saturated.  We left the archeological area and walked through the village a little, taking in the colorful products for sale in many booths.   It was obvious that the tourist business was coming back, but was still well below the pre-pandemic levels.

 2900 Some of the booths selling colorful items

We Loaded back into our bus and rode a short distance to another “Hacienda” for Lunch.  This one was not quite as fancy/ornate as the previous day, but still very good.

2930 A very nice lunch with good Peruvian wine

After lunch, we were treated to a special experience.  The hostess led us down a walkway to an area with stables and a large riding corral.  There were four riders in similar dress riding very similar horses.

 2965 The “Four horsemen” putting on the show.

They put on a riding demonstration focusing on the unusual gait the Peruvian horses are trained to use.  (This originated when the horses had to trot/gallop on sandy soils.)  The gait is difficult to explain and cannot be seen in photos, but you should get an idea from this 3115 video of part of the show.

The day was not over yet.  We loaded back into the bus and headed toward Urubamba but stopped along a side street at the studio of a well-known ceramics artist, Seminario.  This was not just a “one man show”, but a workshop with students and multiple people designing and making all kinds of ceramic items.

3000 Some of the larger ceramic items on display.

Of course, everything was for sale and many of them were tagged at rather significant prices.  Others, like coffee mugs, were much more reasonable.

  3005 This room had mugs and other small items.

Of course, probably the most popular part of the facility were the several colorful and rather loud parrots in the patio.

  3010 One of the three parrots entertaining guests

The studio was actually very close to our hotel in Urubamba.  Some of us took the tour bus and rode a very short distance to the local open-air market for a tour.  Edgar led us around explaining the many products and local specialties.

3055  Inside the market: a kaleidoscope of color and smells

We wandered around and were amazed at the many different varieties of potato and the many fruits, both tropical and not.

 3045  Just one fruit market stall among many

Peru is also a major producer of fresh flowers and they were abundant in the market, adding even more to the color and smells.

   3070  One of the fresh flower booths

After touring the market our little group walked over to the town square, the same one that Susan and I had visited the day before.  We all toured the square a bit then the other people in the group got back on the bus to ride to the hotel, but Susan and I decided to get a little more exercise by taking the 30 minute walk to the hotel.  We enjoyed a glass of the wine we had purchased the day before with some fresh fruit in the room, then, somewhat later, went to the hotel restaurant for a nice dinner.

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