28th September: Tour to the Sacred Valley

Since time will be limited in Cuzco, we opted for a full-day tour of the Sacred Valley. The minibus was full withboth fellow-gringos and Peruvians, and at each of the stops we arrived as part of a fleet of buses. Nevertheless, our tour guide was excellent, with clear and interesting explanations, and we felt that we had just enough time at each of the stops to appreciate their grandeur properly (trying to ignore the swarms around us).

We were collected from outside the travel agency at around 8.30, and after a frustrating hour or so the bus eventually left Cuzco. On the way we passed by the Inca site of Sexywoman (I think it's officially called Sacsayhuaman), which we'll get to see properly later. There was then one tedious stop for twenty minutes at a market with products for tourists, and finally the interesting part of the tour started.

The first stop was Pisac, the ruins of an Inca citadel perched on the mountain amidst spectacular scenery, overlooking the colonial village of Pisaca. Leading up to the citadel were large swathes of Inca terracing. In the mountainside across from Pisac were the tombs where the Incas buried their dead, together with possessions to accompany them in the afterlife and idol figurines to guide them. We walked up the steps (which were not too perilous) to the top of the citadel, with its sweeping view over the Sacred Valley. We had worried that the tour wouldn't give us time to explore the site properly, but we didn't feel short-changed when we left after more than an hour.

View of Pisac (top right) as we approached from the other side of the valley

Terracing leading up to the citadel of Pisac

Terracing being repaired

Clem in front of the citadel

Clem focused on our guide

Incan tombs in the mountainside behind me

View of the valley from the citadel

After an hour's drive west, towards Machu Picchu, we stopped for lunch at Urubambo. This was similar to the lunch stop on the road from Puno to Cuzco, a large buffet place catering only to tourists, with the type of pan-pipe-over-recorded-drumbeat music that you'd find in Oxford Street or the Paris metro (we declined the offer to buy a CD). Nevertheless, the food was plentiful and pretty good, and the stop was brief, so it served its purpose.

Our second tour stop was at Ollantaytambo. This village, predating the Incas, is nestled between mountains at the foot of another section of Incan terracing leading up to the citadel and temple. Our guide told us that the terracing may have been used not only for agriculture, but also to support the great weight of the citadel and temple above, preventing landslides. He also pointed out, in the side of the mountain on the other side of the valley, buildings that were thought to have been Incan stores, and next to them the face of the Incan creator god.

View from the start of the terracing

Close-up of the store and face in the mountainside, barely visible in the photo above

We puffed our way up the terracing to the start of the temple, where we found the most impressive Incan stonework we have seen so far. Huge stones intersected perfectly, not requiring any kind of mortar for stability. How they managed to achieve such precision on such a grand scale, without the aid of iron tools, really is beyond the imagination. A little higher up was the heart of the temple, known as the Temple of the Six Monoliths. We were told that the purpose of this structure was unknown, but that it predated both the Incas and the Tiwanaku. From there we gazed up at the Inca fortifactions, keeping watch over the temple and the village far below. We were then piled into the bus, but not before stopping off at the market to buy a hat and walking stick ready for the Inca trail in a couple of days.

The Temple of the Six Monoliths, with the citadel towering above

Just us and a few close friends

View from the temple over the terracing, the village, and the sacred valley

The final stop, an hour or so back towards Cuzco, was Chinchero. Here the main attraction was a colonial church, built in the late 16th century atop the ruins of an Inca palace that had been destroyed by the Incas themselves as they retreated after defeat at Cuzco. The small church was decorated with murals and a beautiful painted wooden roof, similar to the church of San Pedro on the road from Puno but somehow more attractive (not ruined by huge Dominican canvases, for one thing). Inside the church, our guide pointed out numerous signs of religious syncretism to which we have by now become accustomed. On the pulpit was a traditional European rendering of Christ on the cross. Opposite was a canvas by an indiginous artist, depicting a broad, swarthy Christ wearing a skirt, with his head facing down to Pachamama (the earth) rather than up to heaven.