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Today we commenced our journey towards the Inca Trail starting point. Last night, us trekkers were given a duff bag to pack up to 5 Kg of our belongings, which the porters would carry. We carried our self-carrying backpacks and were loaded onto a van and left Cusco early in the morning towards the Sacred Valley.
The first stop was a sanctuary which is run by the natives to look after orphaned or injured wild birds. They live on our donations and small profits from the purchases that tourist do.
The guide there took us through the sanctuary to see these amazing creatures in actions.
And this cute little Peruvian dog, which is hairless typical of its breed, ran around us looking for a feed.
The Sacred Valley is one of the most fertile area of Peru, and is her food basket throughout the centuries.
There are plenty of farm lands, and the reknowned Peruvian staple, quinoa, are planted here. Though 2013 was named by the UN as the "International Year of Quinoa", thus raising its profile and popularity, there has been disquiets about the resultant environment and agricultural issues, due to the mass productions of quinoa. And there is the issue of the effect to the Peruvian populace, facing a steep rise of the prices of quinoa due to its rising international demands.
The Incas were great cultivators of terrace fields, and use of steep mountain slopes for agricultural purposes. And they we can see them even on some impossible places.
As we go further into the Valley, the Inca ruins of Pisaq shows the Inca agricultural, religious, and military structures.
The terrace fields were built by carting richer top soils from the lower valley, to raise its productive quality even at high altitudes.
Pisaq also served as a military defence post for the entrance to the Sacred Valley and the routes to Cusco, once the capital of the Inca Empire.
These are essentially bathroom and soul cleansing rooms for the high military or religious officials through a clever use of aqueducts.
The Pisaq village is such a tourist hot spot, unfortunately, we can see the ugly side of tourism, ie kids with cute baby animals are made to walking around to attract tourists for photographing for money, instead of going to school. I am not so sure we want to encourage this too much.
Our last stop for the day was the ruin at Ollantaytambo. Also on cue, rain started soon as we arrived, and again, on cue, it stopped as we were and the top, a wonderful rainbow appeared, as if the Inca Emperor Pachacuti intended, to show his slight displeasure of the touristy traffics and finally shown magnanimity.
The Ollantaytambo site is situated between the Pisaq and Macchu Picchu ruins, and was a key defence and agricultural site. Once it was the stronghold of the resistance against the Spanish after their conquest of the Inca Empire.
Again the use of finely interlocked stones for constructions shows the significance and royalty rankings of the site.
The first stop was a sanctuary which is run by the natives to look after orphaned or injured wild birds. They live on our donations and small profits from the purchases that tourist do.
The guide there took us through the sanctuary to see these amazing creatures in actions.
 |
 This is the first time I've seen a condor, let alone one that spreads its wings so close and landed right in front of me. |
And this cute little Peruvian dog, which is hairless typical of its breed, ran around us looking for a feed.
The Sacred Valley is one of the most fertile area of Peru, and is her food basket throughout the centuries.
There are plenty of farm lands, and the reknowned Peruvian staple, quinoa, are planted here. Though 2013 was named by the UN as the "International Year of Quinoa", thus raising its profile and popularity, there has been disquiets about the resultant environment and agricultural issues, due to the mass productions of quinoa. And there is the issue of the effect to the Peruvian populace, facing a steep rise of the prices of quinoa due to its rising international demands.
The Incas were great cultivators of terrace fields, and use of steep mountain slopes for agricultural purposes. And they we can see them even on some impossible places.
As we go further into the Valley, the Inca ruins of Pisaq shows the Inca agricultural, religious, and military structures.
The terrace fields were built by carting richer top soils from the lower valley, to raise its productive quality even at high altitudes.
Pisaq also served as a military defence post for the entrance to the Sacred Valley and the routes to Cusco, once the capital of the Inca Empire.
These are essentially bathroom and soul cleansing rooms for the high military or religious officials through a clever use of aqueducts.
This structures built with meticulously carved stones interlocking seemlessly, show that the location were used by high officials or the nobles.
The Pisaq village is such a tourist hot spot, unfortunately, we can see the ugly side of tourism, ie kids with cute baby animals are made to walking around to attract tourists for photographing for money, instead of going to school. I am not so sure we want to encourage this too much.
Our last stop for the day was the ruin at Ollantaytambo. Also on cue, rain started soon as we arrived, and again, on cue, it stopped as we were and the top, a wonderful rainbow appeared, as if the Inca Emperor Pachacuti intended, to show his slight displeasure of the touristy traffics and finally shown magnanimity.
The Ollantaytambo site is situated between the Pisaq and Macchu Picchu ruins, and was a key defence and agricultural site. Once it was the stronghold of the resistance against the Spanish after their conquest of the Inca Empire.
Again the use of finely interlocked stones for constructions shows the significance and royalty rankings of the site.
Across the valley, there are the grain caches used by Incas.
Like Pisaq, these are soul cleansing fountains for the princelings.
We had one last night of hotel comfort at Ollantaytambo before a very early morning departure to the trail head of the Inca Trail for Machu Picchu.
I like these colorful local tunics.
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