The Sacred Valley is a region in Peru's Andean highlands. Along with the nearby town of Cusco and the ancient city of Machu Picchu, it formed the heart of the Inca Empire. Stretching roughly 70 kilometers, it’s an area of fertile farmland and villages like Pisac and Ollantaytambo. Since we were in Cusco we did a day tour of part of the valley and it is absolutely beautiful.
Every shade of green is seen as there are many small farms in the valley.
The mountains are everywhere and give a feeling of grandeur as we look at them...
Not only do they farm in the valley but also in terraces way up in the mountains as can be seen in the picture below...
Many of these terraces are around since the early days of the Inca.
One of the places we visited was the village of Pisac,famous for its ruins and markets...
These kids were singing to have their photos taken...
The ruins are way above the town and allow for great views of the villages and valley below...
Many people believe this site is the best preserved archeological Inca site in the country. Part of the ruins are well preserved agricultural terraces...
At the top are stone houses and storage for their crops.
The brick structures still standing today...
A good view...
People live in the nearby mountaintop villages and were walking down the mountain to Pisac...
Some pictures of everyday life as we drove through the valley...
Love the picture of this woman who was selling crafts at one of our viewpoint stops...
This woman was selling quail’s eggs as a snack...
These kids were staying out of trouble...
Lots of people caring for their animals...
These cattle have a scenic place to graze...
Seems everywhere they are having or getting ready for a fiesta, we had to stop here while they were decorating the bridge to their village...
Fresh flowers...
This group were getting ready for a party...
We passed some parades...
Here it seemed to be all women and the next one maybe a religious one...
Always something to see! Lunch brought us to a beautiful restaurant that was designed and decorated by the husband of our AirBnB host. It was a beautiful building overlooking a valley and lunch was delicious!
We saw many well kept farms along the way, they grow a lot of potato and corn here...
The colors and the light during different parts of the day were unbelievable!
When you see the beauty of this place it is not hard to believe that the Inca rulers owned all of this land themselves, it was private property that was used for production but also had many spiritual connections to the land.
Our last stop was the small village of Chinchero, famous for textile production, however on the way we stopped at a site to see the restoration work that the village is doing on the church and surrounding terraces. The Church was built in 1607 and is believed to be built on top of an Incan palace.
It was a very neat looking village...
The sun was setting by the time we got to the textile market so the light was amazing...
Some of the animals owned by the woman and used for their wool...
She was in charge and explained the processes they use in their work, many of them centuries old.
For example all of their dyes are from nature, including an insect that gives them a beautiful colour of red. This bundle includes just some of the purple and red wool they use.
There are three types of wool...sheep, adult alpaca and baby alpaca with the last one being the softest and the most expensive. I was looking for a piece made from baby alpaca and bargained her down to a little over half of her original asking price so I was happy, her not so much!
So much beauty to see!
To be continued...
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