Sacred Valley of the Incas - May 29, 2011

Today was our day-long tour of the Sacred Valley.  After a nice buffet breakfast at the hotel, we met up with our guide Lucio and our driver Renateo around 9am.  Again, we got the entire touring van to ourselves.

We stopped at one of the bluffs atop Cusco to get a view of the town.  Current law required that roofs be tiled with a specific color and style.

It was recommended to us to do the Sacred Valley tour in a clockwise direction as most tours head counter clockwise.  Along the way, we stopped at a scenic viewpoint to see the 270 degree view of the "apus" all around us.

The white pointy peak is Salkantay...another trail to Machu Picchu starts there

As we passed through the towns of Poroy and Cachimayo, we stopped by a "touristy establishment" (not sure what to call a place that contained a restaurant, alpaca wool demos, and a crafts market) and got a chance to try a special dish of the region - cuy...which is guinea pig.  You may balk at the idea of eating what we consider a pet; in contrast, the Peruvians think it's weird to have a guinea pig as a pet.  The cuy was freshly prepared, marinated the night before, and roasted to perfection.  The meal was supposed to be just for us "tourists", but we invited Lucio and Renateo to join us, as there was way too much food (we also just had breakfast a couple of hours ago):  the cuy (accompanied by a delicious sauce), different kinds of potatoes, and fried corn biscuits.  Babe had a bottle of local Cusquena beer.  We also all had a tiny shot of anise liquor...a traditional chaser after eating cuy.  All this, for 60 soles.

before

after...the server showed us what it looked like before slicing it

tasty spread

cuy is like eating rabbit...the herb marinade was so good

anise liqueur and  Cusquena

After the meal, we went outside to watch alpaca fur spun into yarn and dyed in assorted natural colors derived from plants.  It was interesting to see how a liquid could dye the yarn one color, and after adding vinegar to it, becomes a different dye color.  We also got to see a table runner being loomed by hand.

violet color at first, but let's add some vinegar

now it's bright red orange!

After the demonstration, we were invited to shop at the market.  There were a lot of beautiful textiles, but the designs weren't really my style.  Babe bought a machine-knit Peruvian cap similar style to the baby alpaca one I bought the day before, but made of acrylic.  (I assumed it was acrylic since it only cost 20 soles, about $7)  I was checking out a handmade reversible cap made of alpaca wool; I asked the vendor how much, and he told me 50 soles.  I immediately dropped it down on the table, and he quickly changed his price to 40 soles.  Babe told me later on that he had overheard people bargaining for a similar hat and the lowest he went was 40 soles, so at least I didn't get more ripped off than normal.

Next, we drove on to Chinchero.  There was a church built on top of Incan ruins there, plus we were fortunate to be there during their Sunday market, which is supposedly less touristy than the one in Pisac. We didn't buy any food, but I did purchase a nut decorated all around with carvings of all the gods (sun, moon, condor, puma, snake, etc.) and Machu Picchu.

a religious parade happened to go by

you find these icons atop roofs everywhere, for "protection"

church built on top of ruins

Incan terraces still exist

the stones are not as exactly formed nor smooth, meaning this was not an "important" building

Sunday market

dehydrated potatoes, a staple of Incan diet during the winter

conch shells were used for communication; the shells were gotten from far away places

don't mess with this bull; look at the size of that sack!

nice small souvenir of everything we've seen on the trip

We stopped at a scenic viewpoint before heading down to the Sacred Valley (Urubamba) and there happened to be a Uruguayan travel host taping a segment on the Sacred Valley and invited Lucio to say a few words about the history of the area.  We might be on TV somewhere in Uruguay. :)

Lunch was in Urubamba, at a restaurant called "El Maizal" that offered a buffet.  Apparently this was the best buffet in town with fresh ingredients and tasty recipes.  The trout ceviche was really good.  I tried an alpaca kabob and the meat was chewy, as expected.  I also got to try some lupin beans, prepared similar to refried beans.  It was pretty tasty...I wonder how long it took for the early people to figure out that lupins were edible once they were rendered non-poisonous?  ("Here son, try this...are you feeling sick?  Hmm, we better soak it and cook it longer...")  Babe ordered a bottle of Inca Cola, which had the same bright color as anti-freeze, and tasted like bubble gum.  This is the #1 soft drink in Peru, over Coca Cola!

indigenous soup with dehydrated potatoes, different kinds of potatoes, ceviche, fresh salad, with a cup of coca tea

grilled fatty pork (yum!), alpaca kabob, ceviche, veggies, lupins, more potatoes over rice

color is strange, but the bubble gum flavor is addicting

lupins in the wild

After lunch we headed to the gem of the tour, Ollantaytambo.  On the way there, we made an impromptu stop in the middle of the road as Lucio saw a farmer preparing dehydrated potatoes. He gets the coals very hot and then throws the potatoes in, seals it and lets the heat do its work.

Ollantaytambo is huge, containing a lot of Incan ruins.  This would also be near the starting point of our Inca Trail hike. (meaning we have to drive 2 hours out here again tomorrow...)  Lucio gave us a detailed narrative of the history of the area, illustrated with the photos and snippets of articles he kept in the binder which he always carried.  I hadn't seen any other tour guide during our trip that was armed with the same kind of materials.

huge complex, with water flowing through it

terraces, meaning lots of stairs to climb ;)

see the "god's face" in the middle of the mountain?  storehouses to the right

water still flows out the ancient fountains

view of the fertile Sacred Valley

the stones are more smooth and exact, meaning this was an important place

huge heavy stones, needed hundreds, maybe thousands of people to move these!

as usual, tourist markets hawking textiles and other souvenirs

After our "Stairmaster" tour of Ollantaytambo, we stopped by an establishment that offered "chicha" tastings, a fermented beverage.  Chicha bars are usually identified by a long stick with red plastic wrapped at the top.  There was a "frog" game set up in the courtyard, where you throw golden coins at it, trying to hit the frog's mouth for the most points.  There were other holes on the board that earned lesser points.  It was meant to be played after getting drunk off chicha.

our van, in front of the chicha bar

game of frogs

ingredients for chicha, look how big the glasses are!

We both got a small cup of two kinds of chicha (not the huge one!), one made of corn and the other strawberry-based.  I personally liked the strawberry one...as I am allergic to corn, I only tried a small sip of the corn-based chicha.  The requisite "tip basket" came out, and I dropped a couple of dollars in it.

It was getting late in the day, and Lucio asked if we wanted to stop by Pisac.  As we had already gone to the more authentic Sunday market in Chinchero and seen a lot of ruins, we passed on Pisac and headed back to Cusco, with a brief stop at Awana Kancha, a weaving cooperative.  We got to see different types of animals, like llama, vicuna, alpaca.  The vicuna were wild and lived up on the hill adjacent to the complex.  All the other animals were penned.

llama wool is coarse...obviously!

alpaca is softer

baby alpaca is even better

We returned to our hotel in Cusco, and Lucio described to us what to expect for tomorrow morning, the first day of our Inca Trail hike.  Our hiking guide was going to pick us up at 6am!  We filled out a piece of paper commenting on Lucio and the tour, then we said our goodbyes.  Babe and I had a great time on the tour with Lucio, as he was very knowledgeable in Incan history and had that handy binder of information. :)  We definitely recommend his services if you are ever in Cusco. 

Babe and I had intended to have dinner near the Plaza in Cusco, but I was feeling tired from touring the whole day.  We ended up staying in, munching on snacks we brought for the hike.  There was a lot of commotion outside the hotel; Babe went outside and saw a celebration going on near the church across the street.  We packed our bags and tried to get as much rest as possible before our early start tomorrow.  Inca Trail, here we come!