The Sacred Valley of the Incas is a valley in the Andes of Peru, close to the Inca capital of Cusco. The Valley is generally understood to include everything between Písac and Ollantaytambo, parallel to the Urubamba River, or Vilcanota River or Wilcamayu, as this Sacred river is called when passing through the valley. It is fed by numerous rivers which descend through adjoining valleys and gorges, and contains numerous archaeological remains and villages. The valley was appreciated by the Incas due to its special geographical and climatic qualities. (Wikipedia)
Plaza de Armas, Pisac
Like I suggested in previous post, the best way to travel in this region is independent travel. It gives you the choice to travel where you want and when you want. The cost is as low as possible and the experience of interacting with the locals, getting lost, finding the buses etc. is wonderful.
Local buses or collectivos (mini vans) run frequently between various towns, but there are 2 major routes on either side of the river. Often the driver will wait until his vehicle is fully packed with people. Make sure you tell the driver loudly (so that everyone will know) where you want to get off the vehicle.
As a rule, it is always safe to travel in public vehicles as people will try to help and offer plenty of advice. It’s only when you seek individuals such as taxis do you get exposed to potential crime, cheating etc. Foreigners (gringos) will be loved in the buses and people will watch your actions with curiosity
Pisac market
The town of Pisac is great for shopping and there are hundreds of little shops on market days (Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday). Urubamba is a bigger city, and there is nothing much to see there. I halted in Urubamba briefly at the fuel (gas) station while waiting for my next bus. A night’s stay in Pisac and Ollantaytambo would be very enjoyable as these towns are very quiet.
Pisac market
My path in Sacred Valley looked like this (very confusing without a map):
(from Puno) > Cusco > Ollantaytambo > (to Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu) > Ollantaytambo > Cusco.
Cusco > Pisac > Urubamba > Moray and Salinas > Chincherio > Cusco
I would have loved to spend more time here cycling the valley, but as I said before – some things should be left for the next visit
Next post: Middle of nowhere.
For the complete photo set, slideshow and comments, please see my Sacred Valley Photo Gallery
Cusco (also spelled Cuzco, कुस्को) is the historic capital of the Inca Empire. At an altitude is around 3,300 m, many tourist companies start tours in Peru from Cusco because it provides a good preparation for Titicaca and Arequipa among other regions. Cusco is a beautiful city. However, being close to Machu Picchu, the primary reason for visiting Peru, Cusco is extremely touristic and expensive.
Inca National Flag (colors of the rainbow), Cusco. Easy to confuse with the LGBT flag which has 6 colors.
History: The Killke tribe occupied the region from 900 to 1200 A.D., prior to the arrival of the Incas in the 1200s. Archaeologists discovered, on March 13, 2008, the ruins of an ancient temple, roadway and irrigation systems at Sacsayhuaman, a famed fortress overlooking the Inca capital of Cuzco. This discovery was just before my visit and therefore was widely discussed.
Cusco was the capital of the Inca Empire (1200s-1532). According to Inca legend, the city was built by Sapa Inca Pachacuti, the man who transformed the Kingdom of Cusco from a sleepy city-state into the vast empire of Tahuantinsuyu. The first Spaniards arrived in the city on November 15, 1533. Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro officially discovered Cusco on March 23, 1534, naming it the “Very noble and great city of Cusco”.
The original Inca city, said to have been founded in the 11th century, was sacked by Pizarro in 1535. The Spanish undertook the construction of a new city on the foundations of the old Inca city, replacing temples with churches and palaces with mansions for the conquerors. A major earthquake in 1950 badly destroyed the Dominican Priory and Church of Santo Domingo, which were built on top of the impressive Coricancha (Temple of the Sun). The city’s Inca architecture, however, withstood the earthquake. Many of the old Inca walls were thought to have been lost after the earthquake, but the granite walls of the Coricancha were exposed, as well as many walls throughout the city. While some wanted to restore the buildings to their colonial splendor, a contingent of Cusco citizens urged city officials to retain the exposed walls. Eventually they won out. More on Wikipedia
Plaza de Armas, Cusco
Tips: Everything is expensive in Cusco, even bottled water. If you want to buy Incan souvenirs, regardless of what travel agents say – do not buy from Cusco city. There are better and cheaper (if bargained heavily) products in the non touristic villages of Sacred Valley.
Nightlife is active in Cusco since it is invaded by tourists. Consequently, crime exists. However if common sense is applied, there shouldn’t be problems. For example – choosing a cab from known companies, not walking alone at night, not displaying fancy cameras or phones, keeping passports and money locked in your hotel, etc.
Cusco is also close to active adventures such as mountain biking, river rafting, abseiling (rappelling), rock climbing and many more. The rainforest is pretty close and many tour operators have 3-4 day packages.
All kinds of foods are available in Cusco, and if you are like me you will gratefully accept a break from potatoes! – Indian, Mediterranean, Japanese, African, Thai, to name a few. There are some excellent bakeries, fruit bars and coffee shops – all expensive ofcourse.
Fountain at Plaza de Armas, Cusco
Information: All taxis in Cusco have a flat rate – S/. 3 ($ 1). The Terminal Terrestre (Bus Terminal) is about 10 minutes away from City center. By road, the city is well connected to Lima, Arequipa, etc but all routes pass thru Puno / Juliaca (which is where I came from!). The airport is at the edge of the city and is also well connected to Lima (which is what I did) and Arequipa.
Being a tourist city, all kinds of accommodations are available – From as low as S/. 15 ($ 5) to anything. There are lots of tour agencies around Plaza de Armas and some of them offer good packages if bargained well.
I would suggest using Cusco as your base for travels into the Sacred Valley. While tourist agencies offer day tours to various towns starting from S/. 60 ($ 20), the whole journey, infact a much better one can be done by using local transport for less tha S/. 10. The tradeoff is between comfortable buses with preplanned touristic destinations OR rickety local buses with the whole valley open to you
Cathedral at Plaza de Armas. The terrain is sloped, not the photo!
Some articles compared Cusco to Jerusalem, and indeed they identify each other as sister cities. Like Jerusalem, Cuzco was believed by the Incans to be the navel of the world. Today both cities have a strange mix of ancient and modern constructions, which is very interesting to watch.
People speak English fluently in the tourist areas, so communication is not a problem. But once you step out to the real (Peruvian) part, everything suddenly changes – language, prices, food, everything.
Street in Cusco
I was in Cusco for 3 nights and 2 days. The first day I relaxed in Cusco and the second day I explored the villages of Sacred Valley. This, btw, is inadequate time in Cusco (but you can always leave something for next visit! 
)
For the complete photo set, slideshow and comments, please see my Cusco – Sacred Valley Photo Gallery
March ahead, traveler! (copied from my journal, edited ofcourse, but its verbose and long)
After a lovely rendezvous with Puno and Lake Titicaca, I am ready to go to the next region of Peru – the Sacred Valley. The island tour ended, I bid goodbyes to my fellow travelers and headed straight to the bus station from where I am writing this. I just got overnight bus tickets to Cusco, the capital city of the Incas for cheap S/.18 (thanks to the relentless bargaining by the Israeli girls to whom I outsourced purchasing). I have a number of options to kill time now – sit here and write my journal and watch local people haul their baggage and wipe the running noses of their kids, or option 2 – go back to the noisy town and have some desserts. I am picking the later one.
- – -
It was a night of horrible driving, noisy music that turned itself ON suddenly in the middle of the night and a number of unscheduled stops at little hamlets. No wonder the tickets were so cheap. The last time the speakers blared out unbearable ear tearing music (seriously, I would prefer Himmesh Reshamiya) was at 3 am, and I woke up with a jerk and a sore foot (My neighbor told me that I was kicking the speaker in my sleep), ah, whatever.
Peruvian society’s clear divide between the native (Indians) and the mix-Europeans was clear to me now more than ever… [snipped, will be a different post]
The bus reached Cusco early in the morning, at about 4:30 am. I woke up from sleep more exhausted than I was ever before (and that seldom happens), tossed a S/. 0.50 to the bathroom guard and splashed cold water on my face. I had decided earlier that I won’t stop in Cusco, but the convenience and ease was so tempting that I almost gave in to my lazy urges. Fortunately the lazyness was tossed away with the flush of the toilet (the paper was too rough) and I barged out of the bus terminal full of enthusiasm. Amazing how five minutes in a bathroom can completely transform you.
Plaza de Armas (Town Center), Ollantaytambo
Sleep and girls: (Should be ‘No sleep and Yes girls’): I hugged goodbyes to my fellow travelers (4 girls – IL, IL, US, US) and they smelled too much like girls in the morning (you know, the typical smell of a girl when they don’t use deodorants). I took a taxi (S/. 3) to a local bus stop where a collectivo to Ollantaytambo (S/.10) was waiting. Ollantaytambo… tongue twister? try this – Oh-lan-tay-tambo (ओलान्तेताम्बो). I was pushed on the back seat with two British women who for some reason didn’t want to talk to me (or to each other), ah well, I could use some sleep, I thought. As a side thought I also noticed that I am continuously stuck with women travelers since last night. No sooner than the vehicle hit the road, I saw that there was no sleep written in my destiny that night. Almost like the time you stay up all night to study, only that this was more exciting and more cruel and filled with girls.
Sleepy early morning
Olantaytambo was a sleepy little town and all it had was a town center (Plaza de Armas) and maybe four other large streets. I wanted to stay in this silent town for the night and head over to Machu Picchu that night but, but, there were issues. First, I couldn’t find a hostel to stay – the one I found was too damn expensive and there was nobody at the reception at the other place (I waited 20 minutes, used the men’s room and escaped). The third hotel simply turned me away – I guess my drowsy eyes, big backpack and a overall broke backpacker look gave it away. Second, there were no more hostels available (I think this point is same as First but I am too tired to think). Third, I was getting worried and had nightmares (shall we call them day dreams) of getting stuck in a village with limited money and no bank machine.
Good! (Thats what I say when situations are hopeless). So I need to change my plans at the last minute. I can’t think because I am hungry. I need food.
I found food. First customer, at 6:30 am they haven’t even finished sweeping the floor. After a neat breakfast, I started to look at my options. Too bad I couldn’t speak Spanish because the locals would have given me information that was better than the guidebook.
A souvenir store
[Thought process filled with various permutations, combinations and estimations skipped.] I have decided to go to Aguas Calientes, the base town of Machu Picchu, rightaway. The next train is at 8:20. Cool, I have a new saying… ‘where there is a will, there is a way train.’
This prompts me to write, which I will, about the scam of Machu Picchu. I board the train and reach, hours later, to the small but outrageously touristic town of Aguas Calientes. I can see forbidding mountains covered with thick forest shadowed by an impenetrable fog even at 10:30 am. Machu Picchu is hidden somewhere in this jungle jumble. It’s so nice to see lush greenery after spending all these days in mostly barren soils.
I find a cheap single room (S/. 15), take a warm shower and fall asleep within seconds. My plans have changed so much since today morning that I have to think the rest of my journey over.
- – -
Welcome to the Sacred Valley of the Incas. Although I went to Machu Picchu the very next day, I will blog about it at the end since it is sortof a climax and I want to keep it so I hope the rant wasn’t too long.
For the complete photo set, slideshow and comments, please see my Ollantaytambo – Sacred Valley Photo Gallery
The Inca moral community code says, “ama sua, ama llulla, ama qhilla” (Quechua: do not steal, do not lie, do not be lazy.) Taquileños (तकीलेन्योस), inhabitants of the Tequilé (तकीले) islands, run their society based on community collectivism founded on this code.
Clear waters of lake Titicaca
Tequile island is about an hour’s boat ride away from Amantani, which we left after having breakfast in the morning. The long and winding walk took us from one end of the island to the other via the topmost part of the island and the village center. The views were too good to describe.
View of the lake from the top of the island
Taquileños are famous for handwoven textiles. Everyone we saw on this island were spinning and weaving something. The Spanish banned the locals from wearing traditional costumes, so the islanders had to adopt European styled clothes which they still wear. Their dresses are brightly colored and show a handsome mix of Quechuan and Spanish styles. Unmarried men (bachelors) wear colored hats, but once they are ‘taken’, they wear white ones (clear indicator of married life!). There is something similar practise with the women.
Boats (how original caption!)
Altitude sickness kept hitting some people in my group. The local people carry Coca leaves (hope you remember them from my post on Puno) in their hats or little purses tied to their colorful belts.
Our path spiraling down
A long walk through blissful surroundings was followed by a long boat ride back to Puno. I made some great friends on this trip and it was wonderful to go on this little guided excursion.
Tale of two mountains. One is inhabited, the other is not!
For the complete photo set, slideshow and comments, please see my Amantani and Tequile Photo Gallery
A welcome break from sleeping in hostels or buses, this night I spent in an authentic Quechuan village in a real home with indigenous people. The tourist company arranged to take us to Amantaní (अमंतानी) and Tequile (तकीले) (not Tequila!) islands which are inside lake Titicaca and about 4 hours away from Puno city by motor boat.
The island of Amantani
We reached Amantani island around noon and our tourist group was split into smaller groups of two and three. A “mother” led the three of us (Me, an Australian lady and an American guy) to her house and showed us to our rooms. It was a very simple house, with small rooms, a courtyard, and a backyard. The inhabitants of these islands are quite short and so the roof and the doors were quite small. The locals spoke Quechua (क्वेचुआ) language, which is the original language of the land (until the Spanish arrived). They worship traditional Inca deities, elements of nature and their ancestors.
Our house for the night.
After a late lunch which consisted of a plate full of potatoes of various types, sour cheese and herbal tea, we started hiking to a local hill called Pacha Tata (पाचा ताता – Father Earth). It had a small temple dedicated to the deity and offered a wonderful view of the lake Titicaca. We spent long time there – some people wrote journals, some people took pictures, while others sat and spent time with themselves or their partners. Things were remarkably calm, peaceful (and very cold!).
Pacha Tata (Father Earth) Hill
These islands are the highest inhabited islands in the world, and consequently some members had breathing problems. It was also quite cold (less than 10 deg C) and thankfully I shopped for some Alpaca wool sweater and a colorful hat which kept me warm.
Pacha Mama (Mother Earth) Hill (viewed from Pacha Tata)
You could see both – sunset and sunrise from this point. The splendid view of the Sun dipping into the gigantic lake behind tall mountains was accentuated by the display of brilliant colors in the sky. It was as if the sun was setting with a fanfare after celebrating a whole (and quite eventful) day on Earth.
Sunset over lake Titicaca.
We retreated from the hills. Everyone was already hungry as our little excursion at very high altitude was quite demanding and took almost four hours. After we returned, supper was ready for us. The mother of the house was very friendly, and she spoke only Quechua. With my guidebook and the limited words it offered, I tried to strike a conversation but it was useless After dinner I offered to wash the dishes, but she said that boys are not allowed to work in the kitchen. How traditional!
Fiesta. Dancing with my host mother
The night was just starting. The mother dressed me up in a traditional poncho and a hat and we went to the village hall where tourists and their mothers gathered for a Fiesta. Young boys played wonderful music, very typical while we were shown to some kind of dance. The celebrations ended after more than an hour after which we went back to our house and slept a very peaceful sleep. Away from the world, with just two light bulbs in the entire house, and ofcourse, no internet
For the complete photo set, slideshow and comments, please see my Amantani and Tequile Photo Gallery
Floating islands
The Uros is the name of a tribe of pre-Incan people who live on 42 self-fashioned floating man-made islets located in Lake Titicaca off Puno, Peru. The Uros use the Totora plant to make boats of bundled dried reeds as well as to make the islands themselves. Around 3,000 descendants of the Uros are alive today, although only a few hundred still live on and maintain the islands; most have moved to the mainland. More on Wikipedia.
All boats have faces of deities that keep away evil forces.
After a day of relaxation and minor hiking around the hills of Puno (blogged over a month back!), I set out on a two day excursion to lake Titicaca. It was with a tourist group and they made arrangements for overnight stay in a village in one of the islands (next post).
It was almost unbelievable to see habitable islands made from reeds. When you walk on these islands, you can feel the softness of the reeds. It is slightly wobbly at some places and the villagers ask us not to stand at the same spot for over a minute or it might be risky.
Villagers selling souvenirs
The purpose of the island settlements was originally defensive, and if a threat arose they could be moved. The largest island retains a watchtower almost entirely constructed of reeds.
The Uros traded with the Aymara tribe on the mainland, interbreeding with them and eventually abandoning the Uro language for that of the Aymara. About 500 years ago they lost their original language. When this pre-Incan civilization was conquered by the Incans, they had to pay taxes to them, and often were made slaves.
A large island with a number of houses and a watch tower
The Uros do not reject modern technology: some boats have motors, some houses have solar panels to run appliances such as TV, and the main island is home to an Uros-run FM radio station. Just as our school buses, we saw some school boats !!
Traditionally dressed woman
How wonderful the world is, who knew that people could live on islands made of grass!
For the complete photo set, slideshow and comments, please see my Puno Photo Gallery
Subscribe
Follow on Twitter
RSS Feed
E-mail updates
