We just returned from our big trip to Machu Picchu, Cusco and the Sacred Valley. I've tried to post as many pictures as possible on our web album, but unfortunately I still can't load all of them. I'll try to make my post as short as possible because I know it can get boring reading someone else's travel log. The pictures are beautiful, however, and worth the time the time they take to look at!
On Thursday morning Jeff, Linda and I arrived at the Cusco airport and were picked up by taxi driver from our hotel in Ollantaytambo. We discovered that it doesn't cost very much to hire a taxi driver to take you around, and that way you are not limited to a specific schedule or structure like with a tour group. In order to get to Ollantaytambo, we took an hour and half drive through the sacred valley. Our taxi driver stopped anywhere we wanted so that we could take pictures. Along the way were several groups of women wearing traditional clothing and selling beautiful handicrafts. You can find pictures at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/calowyn/DrivingThroughTheSacredValley.
That afternoon we visited the ruins at Ollantaytambo. Ollantaytambo is supposedly named after an captain named Ollanta who fell in love with the Inca's daughter. The marriage was forbidden by her father because of their different social status, so Ollanta organized a rebellion. The Inca Pachacutec was killed during the rebellion, and his son became ruler. Ollanta was ultimately captured, but the new ruler recognized Ollanta's skill as a warrior and also his love for his sister and allowed the marriage. You can find pictures of the ruins of Ollantaytambo at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/calowyn/OllantaytamboOn Friday we again hired the taxi for the day to take us to many of the ruins in the Sacred Valley. The first place we stopped is Pisac. This was an agricultural center for the Incas. They terraced the entire mountain and installed an irrigation system for growing crops. They also have storehouses halfway up that were used to store their crops after the harvest. The view over the valley was incredible!
http://picasaweb.google.com/calowyn/PisacAfter Pisac was Chinchero. I'm not sure the what the Incas did at Chinchero, but the Spaniards really went to town there. They destroyed all the buildings, and built a church on top of one of the Incan walls.
http://picasaweb.google.com/calowyn/ChincheroThen we went to Moray. This was one of the prettiest places yet, and the ruins look straight out of an alien movie. At Moray the Incas experimented growing crops at different altitudes. There were 3 sets of circular test sites. To get from one level to the next they built these awesome stone stairs (as shown in the picture). I think the pictures from here are some of my favourites! The ones with the sheep are actually from the drive in between Moray and the salt mines.
http://picasaweb.google.com/calowyn/MorayThe last place we visited that day was the salt mines. We still can't figure out exactly how they work, but from what we can tell the salt water drains into all the pools, and somehow the salt is harvested from there. The pictures don't really do the colors justice, and we were told that the pools were a little muddy because it had just rained. Usually they are a lot more white. All around the pools are people hauling bags of salt on donkeys.
http://picasaweb.google.com/calowyn/SaltMinesOn Saturday we got up early to catch our train to Machu Picchu, then received a call telling us our train had been canceled due to mechanical problems. Luckily they were able to schedule us on a later train, but it left us a with only 4 hours at Machu Picchu. Like everyone always says, the pictures really don't do it justice. Even the good ones. What an incredible city! It is so intact and has the most stunning backdrop! Jeff and I climbed to the temple on top of that big mountain that's always in the background of the pictures. It's a pretty brutal hike. It took about 45 minutes of pretty much walking straight up the mountain, but was worth every minute. You've got to check out these pictures!
http://picasaweb.google.com/calowyn/MachuPicchuThat evening we hopped on the train to go back to Cusco. I have never seen anything quite like our train ride. We all got relaxed and were starting to fall asleep when all of a sudden traditional Peruvian music started blasting and a guy dressed like some kind of Incan clown started dancing up and down the aisle of the train car. He was wearing a white ski mask and holding a stuffed llama. He came around to each seat and pushed the llama up close to each passenger's face before moving on. I never really figured out what the point of it was.
After the clown thing was over, we all started falling asleep again when disco music started blasting. They announced that we were going to see a fashion show of alpaca clothing. Our train attendants were the models and they had to walk up and down the aisle wearing various alpaca outfits from some company that must have a contract with the train company. Kind of crazy! We arrived safe and sound in Cusco that night and met up with our friend April. We ate dinner at a not-so-great restaurant then went to bed.
We spent the next day visiting some sites around Cusco. The first was Saqsayhuaman (the "h" is silent), the principal ruins of Cusco. At first when we heard the name we thought they were just playing a joke on foreigners, but that is really what it's called! These ruins were also pretty destroyed by the spaniards. Apparently Francisco Pizarro's son was killed here when trying to take it over. It has a beautiful view over the city.
http://picasaweb.google.com/calowyn/SaqsayhuamanCusco has a beautiful Plaza de Armas. We met up with April again, walked around there and checked out some of the spanish colonial architecture. Then we went the market and bought a bunch more stuff. We also ate at a restaurant there that night and took some snazzy pictures.
http://picasaweb.google.com/calowyn/CuscoWe flew home on Monday and slept a lot. Linda left last night. It was so nice to see a familiar face and have a good friend to share all of our experiences with. Now we're all alone again. :(
We have loved our time here, but we are getting excited to go back home in a week and a half and see all of our friends and family!
Jeff was the lucky man that got to dance with Steph during the Grad theme song!
Our nephew Max when they visited us in Virginia.
At my cousin's wedding over Christmas
