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Other entries in Ollantaytambo

The Sacred Valley

Bill and I spent our last full day in Cusco on a tour of the Sacred Valley.  The Sacred Valley is a very fertile agricultural valley that is only a few kilometers from Cusco.  Most of the mountain sides above the valley are terraced for additional agricultural area.  It is so green and lush - quite a contrast from Cusco. 

The first scheduled stop was the Pisac Market.  On the way, we stopped at a couple of overlooks to get an incredible view of the entire valley.  At each turn out, there were many decendents of the Inca Indians or half Inca/half Spanish vendors selling their wares.  You could tell the difference by the type of hats they wore.  The tour groups would get bombarded with cries for buying or taking pictures (for a price!).   

Pisac is known for it lively market which is open Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday as well as for some ruins.  We only visited the Pisac Market.  It is quite a commercial market and has grown in size the last few years to cater to the tourist industry.  It is still a very colorful market with many vendors selling anything from food to jewelry to clothing to pottery to musical instruments - just about anything a tourist would want. 

However, this is where locals shop for their weekly food needs.  It is important to barter here.  If you take the vendor's first price, you will be practically laughed out of the market! 

Bill had been wanting an authentic Indian flute.  At the market, there was a shop that sold handmade, high quality native musical instruments.  The owner, Jorge, helped him find the perfect flute - one he had made with his own hands.  It is a beautiful piece of work.  Jorge is part of a 5 generations of a Quechan Indian family that now lives in Cusco.  He was an incredibly interesting guy!  Bill and him hit it off and he invited us to his house that night when we returned to Cusco to see his "workshop".  Little did we know what a fantastic experience that would be!

We took a taxi to Santa Ana ( a VERY local "suburb" of Cusco-we really stuck out!) where Jorge and his dog met us at the local city center park.  Actually, he had to chase down the cab, since the cabbie did not know where he was going.  Jorge escorted us through the dirt streets to the back of his house.  Everyone we met along the way was part of his family!  We entered through a back gate, up some dark stairs into his walled-in back yard.  The view of the Plaza de Armas was incredible from his back door - especially at night!

We first went into this little cave-like, dirt floor room behind the house to see his "workshop".  It ended up being the kitchen also and his wife was making dinner over an open fire.  He offered us stools to sit on as we chatted about him, his family, his life and his dreams.  Jorge taught himself English so he could communicate better with the tourists.  He is quite a smart businessman and father.  He is sending his 3 boys to English school at night, so they will be tri-lingual (Spanish, English and Quechan).  

His three boys arrived home around 9:00 after their English class - three very handsome, polite, personable boys ages 17, 14 and 9.  Now that they were home, the family could have dinner.  They invited us to join them for soup and cafe de coca.  We looked at each other and tried to decide if it would be "safe" to eat the food.  Really, how could we pass up such a heartwarming invitation?!  It had all been boiling for a very long time and it was mostly vegetables, so we decided it would be ok.  However, Bill did need to check with Jorge and find out if the soup was cuy soup.  Luckily, not today - just lamb and vegetables. 

At our feet were many (30 or more) cuys (guinea pigs) running around.  Cuy is a delicacy in certain parts of Peru and especially with the Indians.  Jorge said they eat cuy once a week or so and definitely during holidays and celebrations. Every time you made a sound, the cuys would start squeeking - they were quite a nervous lot.  Guess I would be too if I knew I might be dinner soon! 

After dinner, they invited us into their house to listen to them play their music.  It was fantastic!  All the boys, Jorge, plus a couple of Jorge's brothers played and sang several traditonal songs using the instruments they had made.  What an honor to be invited to such an intimate family event.  We sat their in awe as they played the most beautiful music!  We left knowing that we had made some friends for life! 

After Pisac, we passed through Calca.  Our guide pointed out the platic flags (actually colored plastic bags) hanging out front of many of the houses.  These flags indicated that the home owners made their own chitsa beer (special beer from corn made fresh daily!) and their bar was "open".  You could just stop in to have a drink and taste the local "micro-brew".  We actually stopped at one of these establishments and tasted their creations.  The straight chitsa is pretty sour or bitter tasting, but the chitsa mixed with strawberries was not too bad.  I think I'll stick with the US micro brews, though!  

Our next stop was Urubamba for lunch.  We ate at the Restaurant El Maizal which served a huge buffet of Andean food.  We got to taste just about every typical dish known in the Andes!

After lunch, we traveled for about half an hour to Ollantaytambo which is home to a massive Inca fortress.  The town was representative of the type of city planning the Incas did.  The town was well positioned within the Andes to be the agricultural trade and political administrative center during the Inca reign.  There was a direct route to the sea, a direct route to the jungle and a direct route to Macchu Picchu with the town being in the middle of the lush Sacred Valley. 

They Incas built this massive temple-fortress on the hill overlooking the city.  It was built in terraces with many of the walls built on pre-Inca foundations.  The Incas were quite the engineers!  They created designs and structural architecture that was made to withstand earthquakes.  They used several construction designs and processes - like using small rocks as the bottom layer to allow flexibility and then build the walls with a 12-13 degree lean to match the lattitude from the equator so the walls would be truly perpendicular and stronger. 

The stone blocks used to build the walls were quarried 6 km away and were brought to the site using manual labor.  They have found many human remains along the route - a reminder of the incredible feat it was to build this structure.  There were many stones within the fortress that were placed "just so" to catch the sun light just right during different times of the year giving the Incas an exact seasonal time.  Across the valley on the side of the hill were some rocks that looked like a man's face.  During different times of the year, the sun would be trangulated through the man's profile to cast a perfect shadow on their solar clock.  Amazing!  The Incas were so bright!  They also had an intricate water system within the city plan.

Our last stop was athe charming Andean village of Chinchero.  It is at 3762 meters or approximately 11,000 feet.  We came here to visit the quaint church above the village.  It is built on Inca foundations with elaborate floral and religious fresca designs on the inside.  Most of the church is original with very little needing renovation due to the many earthquakes.  Another example of the Inca's engineering talents.  On Sunday's, the Catholic church service is done in Quechua, so the Quechuans from all around go to the market in Pisac and then come to church.  It is interesting that the full Quechan Indians sit on the floor while the half Quechan/half Spanish sit in the pews.  The caste system tradition is still in full force!  The Incas have mixed their own religion with the Catholic churches.  Their influence is still seen in all the Catholic churches in the region with images of the sun, moon, earth, air and water.  Pachamama - our dear Mother Earth - is still alive and well!

Our last day in Cusco was another incredible experience!

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