Similar to Puno, Cusco was a base camp so to speak for a number of day trips, or multi-day trips in the Sacred Valley of the Inca. We saw many things in a few days so this post bounces around a bit and hopefully gives you a sense of the many different things in this area.
Drive from Puno to Cusco
We stopped part way between Puno and Cusco at what is the highest point in the valley. All the rainfall to the right, heads south to Lake Titicaca. All the rainfall to the left goes into the Amazon basin. We definitely noticed a lot more vegetation and greener on the Cusco side.
About 100km from Cusco we stopped at our first large Inca location called Raqch’i. It is on the Inca trail and it is believed to be mostly an administrative complex to support expansion of the Inca empire south. There were over 150 of these circular buildings in a grid pattern which were primarily store houses. There was also a large temple structure and a 4km defensive wall around the complex. The residential and/or traveler lodges were lined up so that the sun shone straight down the main path during the summer solstice. This site, like many others we visited, showed clearly what was important to the Incas: agriculture, religion, and the military.
Our last stop on the way to Cusco was at a Spanish Cathedral in Andahuaylillas. From the outside it looked like a simple church but the inside was quite ornate. We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside, but they had a large professionally done photograph of the inside on a big board outside the church that you could take a picture of. Almost as stunning were the huge flowering trees in the plaza just outside the church.
Cusco
As our “base camp” we spent a few nights in Cusco but not too many days. However, we did get a bit of time to explore some of the plazas, to visit San Pedro market, and of course to try out a few restaurants. The market was quite an experience. It was the Latin American equivalent of St. Jacob’s in SW Ontario and there was stalls of just about everything there.
One of our hotels had a chess set in the lobby and pieces were designed to be Inca vs Spanish (with horses for the Spanish and llamas for the Incas). The girls decided to dust off their chess skills and gave it a go.
Urubamba
We got to spend two nights in a rural hotel close to Urubamba in the Sacred Valley. It was a chance to enjoy the valley and to relax a bit.
Sacred Valley Tour
From Urubamba we had a guided tour for a day which took us to a few Inca sites in the valley on our way back to Cusco.
The first stop was Ollantaytambo, which was a situated at the intersection of three valleys and had a very quaint little village at the bottom of the ruins. We would actually return there a few days later to start our Inca Trail hike to Machu Picchu up one of those three valleys.
Our next stop was Pisaq which wonderfully showcased what the Inca were really good at, making terraces to support agriculture in the mountains.
Our last stop was in the village of Pisaq (below the ruins of Pisaq) which had a very nice arts and craft market. We found few things to buy including a mini version of the Inca vs Spanish chess set for the girls. The guide also took us to this traditional bakery in the village where they still used this huge clay oven to make flat bread (and other things). The bread was amazing fresh out of the oven.
Vinicunca (Rainbow Mountain)
Our trip to Rainbow Mountain started at a 4:30am and involved a 3 hour drive. First was about 1 1/2 on paved roads to get us most of the way there. We stopped for breakfast but then spent the next 1 1/2 hours on windy narrow gravel roads to get up to the parking lot. From there it was all on foot and was about 4-5 km hike. The first 4 km was a moderate incline, but the last 500 meters or so was very steep. Given that the final summit was over 5000m (16,400 ft), it was tough hike at that altitude but worth the amazing views. Rainbow Mountain has gained immense popularity in the last 10 years and is second to only Machu Picchu as the most visited site in Peru and it was quite busy.
The altitude is no joke! I think up to this point in time in our trip, we had mostly avoided all tourist photo-op traps, however we finally caved for the baby alpacas with sun glasses. Annika was convinced it was too cute to pass up and we all basically agreed she was right.
In the left picture above, you can see the mass of people lined up to try and take a selfie at the base of the mountain (which is towards the right side of that picture). An official was there and would blow his whistle if you spent more than 30 seconds per person taking a picture. That line was about a 30-40 minute wait and we decided we didn’t need to stand there and got a picture from the side of the line from the lower position. Instead we did the additional hike up the left side peak so you could look down at Rainbow Mountain. Both were amazing views but both where crowded.
We were part of a tour group and therefore needed to be back at bus/van by a certain time. However, we were all feeling pretty well in spite of the altitude and on the way back we decided to do the extra detour to see Red Valley. You can see parts of it from the Rainbow Mountain viewpoints, but couldn’t see down into the valley without the extra trip. Even though it was a bit rushed and we had to pay extra for it, we are glad we did.
As mentioned above, the roads up (and back) were windy, narrow, and without guardrails. It was always a little unnerving when vehicles have to pass and on the way down, we encountered an unsuccessful pass attempt. Thankfully in this case the guy going off the edge went into the channel on the mountain side and not the cliff side. As vans/buses started to back up, there was enough man power from all the tourists to help lift the car out and we could all continue on our journey.
