Ciarán & Elaine's Travelog

Saturday, October 15, 2005

Pisac and the Sacred Valley

Today we got the bus to the Sacred Valley to see the ruins in Pisac.

They´re all completely mad for selling in Peru. They´d seriously sell anything at all if you´d be willing to buy it. Everytime the bus stopped people would try to squeeze on or put their arms in through the windows trying to sell things.
The bus was a little mini bus (probably about 16 seats) we reckon there was about 25 people on it with one guy hanging off a ladder on the side for the 32km to Pisac. Another guy was trying to sit on our laps for most of the journey! Considering it only cost us 2 soles (about 50cent) we can´t really complain that much...

We arrived in Pisac which is this tiny little town in the middle of the valley, surrounded by really steep mountains. We took a taxi 10km to the top of one of the mountains and then hiked our way back down passing through about 5 or 6 Inca ruins. The weather was just perfect and the hike although quite steep in parts was really enjoyable. We passed various settlements, bathhouses and went through tunnels carved through the mountain. At times we were walking along precipices only 2 foot wide, with a drop of a couple of hundred feet....

The views of the Sacred Valley from that height were amazing and to see how the Incas channeled the spring water into their perfectly built bathhouses and villages was something else. It´s amazing that they were able to build so well, at the top of a mountain, hundreds of years ago - modern day builders could learn a lot from them.

When we got to the bus stop to catch the bus back there was a throng of people waiting. Luckily I overheard a guy saying he´d give a few people a lift. Before we knew it we were sitting lovely and comfy in a big people carrier being whisked back to Cusco watching the sunset over the snowcapped mountains - not a bad way to end the day...

Tomorrow we´re heading off white water rafting for three days on the Apurimac river - can´t wait!!

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home