Today it was time to move to the mountains to start visiting the many archeological sites there (there are over 19,000 archeological sites in Peru!). After leaving our hotel at 5:45 am and dodging the police who were trying to enforce the President’s one day lockdown over a protest against the rising fuel prices, we got to the airport and flew to Cusco. That’s an altitude gain from sea level to 11,000 feet in one hour! Cusco has over 1 million people living in the city and another 400,000 in the surrounding areas. We will come back to visit Cusco; today we were just heading out of town to head to the Sacred Valley.
On our way there, we climbed to about 12,000 feet and then started to descend into the Urubamba Valley — the Sacred Valley of the Incas. We actually got our first peek at the snow-covered Andes on the way, but surrounding the valley are “lower” mountains of the mountain range (the peaks of the Andes in Peru range from 13,000 feet to 22,000 feet!). Coming down into the valley, we passed through the little village of Pisac, the highest in the valley. All around we saw terraces built into the hillside, as well as trails connecting them. These were all built by the Incas in the 1400s and we sites for agriculture, agricultural product storage and living. They seemed to be everywhere. Apparently, there is also a fortress and some observatories there, but we needed to keep going. The Sacred Valley served as the main supplier of food in the Inca Empire, which stretched across parts of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Chile. One of the most unusual villages we passed through was Lamay, that is revered for its cuyerias, restaurants selling spit-roasted piglets. The town’s main street is lined with restaurants, shacks, and street vendors selling supersized guinea pigs stuffed with herbs. The street is also lined with large statues of cuys (guinea pigs) dressed in a variety of costumes. Guinea pigs are generally only eaten on special occasions, so a lot of the focus is on the tourists that pass this way. No, we did not try the “pig on a stick…” Today was intended to be a day to acclimatize, so we just went to have lunch and tour the Casa Hacienda Orihuela that overlooks the valley. The owners were avid collectors of Spanish Colonial art which decorated the entire area. There were also a lot of beautiful gardens, etc. throughout the hacienda. Sadly, Deb and one other member of our group got a bout of altitude sickness that was ultimately resolved with a 10 minute oxygen treatment. From there we were off to our hotel in Urubamba, which is beautiful. Tomorrow, we start our explorations — and climbing!
I am a traveler and sometimes clay sculptor, following a long career working in consulting. My work allowed me to travel the world extensively and I was hooked. Today, I travel with my wife/best friend to explore new places, meet new people, and learn new things.
