Sacred Valley- Ollantaytambo & Pisac

June 21, 2016

Today began our exploration of the Sacred Valley of the Incas. We had a very full day!
In the morning we visited the village of Pisac that provides the opportunity to see ancient ruins and a "modern" bustling market.  The Inca ruins lie above the village and include agricultural terracing, homes, temples, ritual baths and tombs.

These amazing  terraces were used for growing food for the village-
if you look closely, you can see the housing that lies higher upon the hill with a view of the valley below

Andean Hummingbird 

It is difficult to imagine how impressive the terraces truly are until you are up close...
the walls were more than 12ft high but this is only 40% of the actual terrace.  60% of the engineering lies underground in a complex drainage system of rock, sand and fertile soil that had be brought up to the mountain!!

The classic rectangular Inca architectural style dwellings

The mountains are sculpted into fertile grounds...amazing!

Ladies and lambs on our way into the market-

The Pisac market attracts tourists from all over the world to barter for handicrafts, art, jewelry, etc.

We happened to visit during the celebration of the establishment of the city-
These are musicians and dancers in their traditional clothing heading for the festivities in the main square.

A local artist who made colorful 3D family "portraits" from scraps of hand woven tapestries

All the children were out of school for the town's celebration

The Andes looming over Pisac market

On our way to the Inkary Museum, we stopped by a roadside cafe to see how the locals here in Peru prepare one of their favorite meats...

Roasted guinea pig!

This is a more "rustic" preparation of cuy than we observed in Ecuador. 
We opted not to try it this time...

Here we were further schooled in the ancient native peoples of South America leading up to the Incan Empire.  The museum had a specific room dedicated to each people group complete with wax figures, pottery, textiles, jewelry, etc.

After all the trekking, shopping and learning we enjoyed a wonderful family style lunch at Rancho Wayra.
We dined on the terrace and watched the skills of the Peruvian Paso horse that is know for the smoothest gait in the world. The setting was breathtaking with blue skies, the mountains & glaciers and graceful horses.

First time to ever taste the fruit of the Prickely Pear cactus-
"sort of like watermelon with lots more seeds"

After lunch we drove to Ollantaytambo, known as "The Last Living City of the Incas".  This classic Inca town with its alleyways and dwellings are still inhabited today by the local farming families.

Notice the irrigation on the right carrying water throughout the village.

We visited the inside of a local farmer's home.  
This structure was built centuries ago and is used in the same way today.
It is a one room house with a dirt floor.   Farming equipment hung on the wall , an ancient sewing machine and guinea pigs kept for a contest source of meat.

Dried corn, meat and fish were hung from a beam across the ceiling to be prepared on the corner stove...
Only 2 modern changes:  framed beds and an overhead electrical light source.

Of course this would not be a true Incan city without terraces, granaries, and a worship center.

If you look closely, just to the left of the square granary buildings you can spot a profile of a face carved into the mountain.
This is the Incas representation of the god Viracochan

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The huge stones of the temple on top of the terraces.  
This is an example of some of the finest architecture of the empire.

The terraces with a small stretch of the Incan trail (which much to my chagrin we trekked!)

Another look at the massive stones of the Sun Temple at Ollantaytambo-
you can see the remnants of the reliefs of 3 pumas over Matt's shoulder and the "Incan cross" to the left.

The Incan people clearly had great balance and no fear of heights!!!