Cuzco: The Sacred Vally (Pisac, Ollantaytambo, Chinchero)

I arrived in  Cuzco on Saturday, taking a bus from Puno that stopped at various historical sites along the way.   One in particular, Raqchi (and the temple of Wiracocha), was interesting to me as it was the first well-defined Incan site I had spent any time at.

 Wiracocha was the 8th Incan King.  Just as interesting to me as the history of the ruins was the the construction.  Take a look at the pictures below…. what pops out to you?

Just how did the Incas manage to make the stones fit so closely???

 

What is that shape that keep appearing over and over again?  Any ideas as to why?

 

So now I am in Cuzco.  Cuzco is the base from which I am going to explore Incan ruins in the Sacred Valley, do my 5 day trek to a lesser known lost Incan city of Choquiquerao and then finally, go to Machu Picchu.

I will be based out of Cuzco for almost 2 weeks!  It feels nice to be in one place for awhile though.

After checking into my hotel on Saturday, I went to the tour company through which I had arranged my trek out to the Incan ruins of Choquiquerao to confirm my trip on the 4th.  The trek will be for 5 days and I am really looking forward to it, as I will have the chance to see two major Incan ruins and not just Machu Pichu as most people do.  I also arranged train tickets and entrance to Machu Pichu on the 10th-11th.  Apparently, a lot has changed in Peru in the last three weeks with the new President and you cannot just show up at the archeological site and buy tickets anymore.

With that settled, I took up the opportunity to do a tour of the Sacred Valley on Sunday.  We went to three major Incan ruins.   Something to know about the Incas is that they were only really a dominating civilization for 90 years or so.  They became powerful quickly and extended their reign from Ecuador into Chile by absorbing existing communities and also, improving upon technology that already existed.

The first major stop on our Sacred Valley tour was Pisac.  The archaeological complex is a fantastic example of Incan terracing.  Most of which were still in use until major flooding happened in the Sacred Valley in 2010.

The terraces are made up of four layers.  On the bottom is rock, for drainage, then gravel, then sand and finally the top layer is humus, rich earth in which crops grow.  What is fascinating to me is that underneath all of this, the Incas first built water irrigation channels, so there are actually little streams of water running underneath the terraces.

OLLANTAYTAMBO:

Our next stop was Ollantaytambo, a huge agricultural and economic center for the Incas in the Sacred Valley.  What was interesting was that it was also an unfinished temple, on which the sun shone directly upon on the Summer solstice.  These Pre-Colombian civilizations really are fascinating when you think of their ability to build things in just exactly the right place so it is hit by the light on one particular day of the year!

                         

This was the first site that I really got to see just how HUGE the blocks of granite are that the Incas used to build their temples and cities.  I don´t have the information with me just now, but some of the blocks for the temple (above middle) weigh something like 45 tons and came from a quarry over 5 kilometers away over a mountain!  A few years ago, the townspeople of Ollantaytambo actually moved a block, though much smaller by placing logs underneath the block just to prove that it was actually possible to move them using non-machine generated power.  It is estimated to take something like 15 people to move a 1 ton block.   Just think about how many people were involved in moving them!  Needless to say, I left the site impressed!

CHINCHERO

The last stop on our tour of the Sacred Valley was to Chinchero, another town with terraces, but better known for its textiles and natural dying of wool from the plants and insects in the surrounding environment.  You can bet Ms. Bruck was excited about this stop!

                   

The colorwork and detail in their weaving is pretty incredible!  How much counting do you think is involved in that?  I spoke with one of the ladies, and she confirmed for me that it was all about patterns, different number combinations gave different shapes, slopes of the shapes as you went from row to row, etc.    🙂

I bought some fabric from the lady to my left and in response they decided to dress me up in their traditional dress and have my picture taken. I look pretty silly, but it was a good laugh!

Today my plan is to do a “city tour” of some Incan ruins outside the city on my own.  There is so much information that you get with a guide, but I often find myself rushed through and not getting to spend as much time exploring as I would like!

Cheers!

Ms. Bruck