The Sacred Valley

The Sacred Valley or Urubamba Valley of the Incas is the area between Cusco and Macchu Picchu and includes everything between Písac and Ollantaytambo.  The valley is spectacular at between 9,950 feet and about 12,000 feet altitude.  

The first place we stopped was the town of Chinchero, a small Andean Indian village with beautiful views overlooking the Sacred Valley of the Incas and the snow-capped peak of Salkantay to the west. Chinchero is known as the mythical birthplace of the rainbow. One of the remnants of Inca times is a massive stone wall in the main plaza which has ten trapezoidal niches. The construction of the wall and many other ruins and agricultural terraces (which are still in use) are attributed to Inca Tupac Yupanqui who possibly used Chinchero as a kind of country resort.

The women of Chinchero are known for their quality textiles which are all made the old and natural way.

In the main plaza is an adobe colonial church, dating from the early seventeenth century,which was built upon the foundations of an Inca temple or palace. The ceiling and walls are covered in beautiful floral and religious designs painted with all natural dyes.  We were there just at the time a large parade of townspeople playing all kinds of instruments was coming up to the church.  They were celebrating a festival day, Godmother day.

We went into a courtyard where we had a demonstration of how all of the threads are made from sheep and llama wool.  First they use a natural root which is grated into water and makes a soap which washes the wool.  Then they have to pull the wool and spin it on a hand spindle to make the threads.  Once the threads are made they dye them with dyes made from leaves, purple corn and a small weevil type bug that lives on cactus pads. 

The quality of the products they had to sell was immediately apparent in its texture and fine detail. Everyone in our group bought at least one thing from them.   

Our next stop was Ollantaytambo, the royal estate of Emperor Pachacuti who conquered the region, built the town and was building a temple of the sun on top of the stronghold at the time of the Spanish conquest of Peru. Ollantaytambo is located on high ground at the junction of three valleys and it served as a stronghold for Manco Inca Yupanqui, leader of the Inca resistance against the conquistadors.

Once again I have to stand in awe and amazement at the level of skill the Incas had for working in stone.  The large stones on top of the site which were being used to build the unfinished temple of the sun were quarried from  a ravine across the Urubamba River valley. They cut huge multi ton blocks of rose rhyolite for the buildings of the Temple Hill and polished them smooth then had to get them down into the valley across the river and up to the top of the temple area. It has been surmised that an elaborate network of roads, ramps, and slides connected them with the main building areas 3 miles away from the quarry. 

We spent a lot of time at Ollantaytambo climbing and exploring the whole area. 

We took a break for lunch in Urubamba at a nice resort.  We sat outside on a large deck area with a roof over it facing the mountainside and the Urubamba river flowing past.  There was a duo playing pan flute, violin and several other instruments for us as we ate. 

I had Alpaca Carpaccio

and Fish

More about Ancient Peruvian Civilizations