The Sacred Valley

The bus to Urubamba, a colectivo because it collects passengers as it goes, was ridiculously cheap:8 soles for the 2 hour trip. About $8US for both of our tickets. We drove over more mountains, past small villages and miles of terraced fields. We saw lots of sheep, one tractor, and ox pulling a single plow through the rocky brown soil. Urubamba is a crossroad village, Pisaq in one direction, in the other direction Ollantaytambo and Machu Pichu beyond that. We chose to spend a few days in Urubamba because of it's slightly lower elevation and access to some Inca history we want to study. It's a small town, pop.2700. It was lower, but still more than a mile above sealevel. We asked for directions and were pointed up the hill to the hostel Los Perales. The Pear Trees. It was an enchanted garden! A wild mess of paths through vegetables and flowers and fruit trees of all kinds. Our host spoke Quechua first, Spanish second, and a few words of English. A retired chemist, he was gardening without the use of chemistry.

We spent four delightful nights here, coming "home" after a day full of exploring, to sit in the garden with a warm beer and my paper journal. No internet in the village, but much to see: women leading llamas, dressed in bright colored skirts and tall hats. I soon learned to identify their home village by the hat.
Yu
Pisaq is an hour south in the valley, home of a truly awesome citadel built in the mid-1400's. It's second in importance and grandness to Machu Pichu, and more is known about it because it's not only older, but was lived in longer than Machu Pichu. The extensive terracing covers all the hillsides surrounding the residential areas, the military areas, and the sacred temple buildings on the top of the mountains. We took a bus to the village, and then a taxi to the ruins which completely dominate the skyline above Plaza in the small village. We planned to hike down, following one of the two paths back to the village.

The Incans chose the site for this City with good thought. The hilltop is surrounded on three sides by either rivers or a river gorge, and commands a view of the valley in two directions. We hired Roosevelt to give us a tour. He pointed out things we would have missed, and explained the architecture and told us a little more of the history than we had read. In turn, we paid his small fee, and gave him a few words of english he can use with other tourists.

The beautiful hike down took more than an hour, I can't imagine hiking up! We had lunch at one of the empanda restaurants, watching while the young man cooked our lunch in the big, handmade clay, wood-fired oven. The cuy 'palace' was in the corner, the furry critters chattering in the pen. We think of them as pets, but they are a special dinner in the Sacred Valley area, and in Lima.