Sacred Valley - Valle (Va-yeh) Sacrado - is a valley that essentially runs from Cusco to Ollantaytambo (Y-yan-tie-tambo) and encompasses the Urubamba River that runs all the way past Machu Picchu eventually draining into the Amazon river basin.
It is a really pretty valley that we were blessed to see in two seasons; on two consecutive days. On our first day, it was a sunlighted and verdant valley in multiple shades of green. The next morning, her mountain peaks were sheathed in white after an overnight snow at the higher elevations. Yes, as the pictures show, the valley is really this beautiful...
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| Urumbamba River |
With this beautiful natural backdrop, we set off with our guide Carmen and our driver on an 8 hour tour to learn about the places and people that live and work in this valley.
Our first stop was in the town of
Chinchero about 30 minutes drive from our hotel in Cusco. Here we had a personal tour and demonstration of Andean craft production at Textiles Chaska. Our hostess - the lady on the left in the picture below - walked us through the entire wool to yarn to dyed yarn to woven product process. I think the dyes were the most fascinating part including the parasites (
Cochineal) on cactus that were used to create a red color similar to lipstick (carmine)
As always my animal whisperer is making up to the critters - here a hungry alpaca is getting a snack.
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| Yes - Guinea Pigs are a delicacy... |
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| All natural dye products |
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| Quite a fashion statement |
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| Egads - I had to dance too... |
We really loved the products this small enterprise produced -- we brought home a handwoven runner which proudly sits on our dinner table.
After leaving Chincero, we headed off road and into the misty, rainy, countryside, skidding up and down mud packed roads, dodging shepherds herding cows, goats, and sheep past fields of potatoes and quinoa - yep, a lot of quinoa is grown in Sacred Valley - beautiful purple flowers on their stalks.
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| Who need 4-wheel drive? |
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| Potatoes |
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| Quinoa |
Along the way, we saw what we think were "eco tourists" who appeared to have walked (in the mud and rain) out into the farm fields for a lecture on llamas - the nice lady in the blue coat and red hat looked pretty forlorn as we drove by - I think she would have liked to be riding in the warm, dry van.
Honestly speaking, regardless of why the Sacred Valley has its name, I thought that the sheer amount of agriculture we saw on the high plateaus above the Urumbamba river was enough to designate this as sacred and hallowed ground. For the Andean people,
Moray was a place dedicated by the Inca for experimenting with agriculture. The terraces you can see in these pictures were used to vary the sun exposure and altitude of the plants being experimented with or being adapted to different altitude or growing conditions. A really magical
place. And by now, 24 hours after arriving in Cusco, we were acclimated enough (fortified by Coca and Muna tea) to be hiking (deliberately vice like mountain goats) up and down these hills.
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| Pano of the salt pools at Maras |
Next up on our slip sliding off road adventure were the salt pools of
Maras. By now, the sun was out and drying out the roads and having left the relative peace and quiet of Moray, descended into the a much more heavily touristed attraction. As our guide Carmen explained, most of the salt pools are not producing this time of the year which is generally reserved for repairing irrigation channels and the salt pools themselves. The source of water used for these pools is naturally brackish - and was once seen as a curse since you couldn't drink or grow food with it. But what was once a curse is now pure gold so to speak - not only do they produce and sell salt all over the world - but the number of salt ponds in production are increasing as the number of families (each family has 5-6 ponds) involved in Maras continues to grow. We brought home half a dozen small packs of pink salt - tastes great, less filling, and really cheap compared to similar salt from other worldwide locations.
Next up was our last stop in Ollantaytambo - which in addition to serving as the primary departure point for trains and hikers heading to Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu) is also an archeological site dating back to the Inca era, serving as a redoubt to stem Spanish expansion from Cusco. The vibe in this little city was high energy as people carrying big backpacks getting ready for their Inca trail hike were walking everywhere throughout the town.
While Carmen walked Valerie around the village, I hiked up a long stairway (huff, puff), so I could see the Temple of the Sun. From there, it was a nice hike along a rocky trail (without hand rails) to walk up to an Inca-era two story storage building. With our visit to Ollantaytambo complete, we headed back to Cusco to get a good night's sleep for our return to Ollantaytambo the following day to catch the train to Aguas Calientes. Perhaps if we'd thought about it, we could have stayed overnight in a hotel in Ollantaytambo or even have caught a late afternoon train to Aguas Calientes rather than make the long trek back and forth to Cusco twice in 24 hours. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and so much of what we're doing while we're traveling is figuring out a better way to plan and execute future trips for us, our family, friends, and travel customers.
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| Temple of the Sun |
Stairs, Stairs, and more Stairs |
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| Trail to the storage building |
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| Inca-era storage building |
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| The Inca-era buildings and structures have been nicely restored. |
Honestly speaking, regardless of why the Sacred Valley has its name, I thought that the sheer amount of agriculture we saw on the high plateaus above the Urumbamba river was enough to designate this as sacred and hallowed ground. For the Andean people, Moray was a place dedicated by the Inca for experimenting with agriculture. The terraces you can see in these pictures were used to vary the sun exposure and altitude of the plants being experimented with or being adapted to different altitude or growing conditions. A really magical place. And by now, 24 hours after arriving in Cusco, we were acclimated enough (fortified by Coca and Muna tea) to be hiking (deliberately vice like mountain goats) up and down these hills.
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