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Together with the ancient Incan city of Cusco, the Sacred Valley is the gateway to Machu Picchu. The valley contains numerous hiking trails and is the jumping off point for hiking the Incan Trail all the way to Machu Picchu. We spent two nights in the gorgeous Marriott Tambo del Inka Hotel in the Sacred Valley before heading up Machu Picchu, and were grateful to spend our last night recuperating from our rainy hiking day there. We most often stay in Hiltons around the world, but the Marriotts we stayed in were terrific here in Peru. We are still members of the Marriott Bonvoy reward program, but we don’t make any attempt to generate points in it or to frequent Marriott hotels. With our experience here, that may change in the future.
The Incan’s mastery of stonework and architecture can be seen in the photos of the fortress we climbed to. The dry-stone technique you see was also used at Machu Picchu, and it is amazing that they did not need to use mortar to hold the stones together, just precision fitting of the stones, one against the next. As we noted in our previous post, a knife blade cannot be inserted between the rocks, they are so tightly joined.
The land in the Sacred Valley was rich enough to provide food for the Incan people. Here, they grew vegetables, corn, fruits, cocoa, and avocados. The valley held ceremonial temples and palaces in addition to the mountaintop fortress. As we traveled through, parts of the various towns looked quite old and ramshackle. It certainly looks as though it has been inhabited for hundreds of years. There are also some beautiful hotels and restaurants. We visited the studio of a prolific artist, and everything there was very inviting and quite “decorated” with beautiful artwork. We passed alpacas in a field and tried to puzzle out how alpacas were different from llamas (Spanish-speaking locals pronounce the ll like tortilla), guanacos, and vicuñas. Our conclusion is that you have to be told by a native who grew up with them, as it is a matter of spotting a longer neck, more slender body, and different ears. We don’t have enough experience to know these slight differences.
We arrived in Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley with a view of the mountain we intended to ascend to reach the Ollantaytambo Fortress.
Can we do it? It looked like a lot of steps.
It took a while – resting after every three sets of stairs – but we arrived at the top in about 30 minutes.
The rock fortifications were hundreds of years old.
This ascent was the day prior to climbing Machu Picchu – we were told that it was good training for the following day! Both this fortress and Machu Picchu not only had a lot of steps, but the climbs were pretty steep. We were warned by our guides not to walk while taking pictures, but to stop, shoot, and then walk some more. As we were watching the Charlton Heston movie set in Machu Picchu, Secret of the Andes, mentioned in the previous post (spoiler alert!), we predicted that some character would die by falling off a cliff. We were not disappointed. Seeing the shooting location, we are sure the movie makers couldn’t help themselves.
The terraces, “resting levels,” had benches for us to look around and catch our breath. Our guides told us how much better the locals were in navigating these mountains than others. For instance, an athlete from elsewhere has set a record of doing the 4-day Incan trail in 8 hours. Impressive, no? The record for a local is 4 hours.
In the distance, you can see valleys beyond the one we started in.
At the top were walls, huts, and various fortifications.
The structure in the mountain was a warehouse for food, a root cellar, as the colder air there acted as a natural refrigerator. The structure has large openings in the side to let cool air flow through. Incan homes had small doors and windows to maintain warmth.
More of the ruins.
They have added some modern staircases with handrails, but we also climbed stairs like these.
Down in the village, there was no shortage of all things Peruvian, including these alpaca hats.
This felt like styrofoam. Can you guess what it is? It is a dried potato. Potatoes are practically the national food of Peru, and there are reportedly 4,000 varieties of them here. Ones like this will last 11 years and helped the Incans survive through times of famine.
Some of the local color, including Peruvian hats, purses, and throws.
We toured the studio of, and met, an international artist named Pablo Seminario in the Sacred Valley. His work is very creative and imaginative, and he has exhibits throughout the US. We saw a variety of works he has completed.
We thought this wire art depicted people and animals in a boat, with some falling/jumping into the ocean. Nope. It is a depiction of the World, with some people dropping into Hell!
We were very taken with these alpacas at our hotel in the Sacred Valley. They were calmand gentle, and were brought inside to sleep in the lobby once evening settled in.
This art piece was at a viewpoint on our way to the Sacred Valley. It projected straight out from the cliff, as you can see in the next photo. Although it had a net below it, we didn’t venture out onto it.
Next to the outstretched hand is a pretty bench with a heart made of flowers for selfies.
This? This is a CUY – a roasted guinea pig. They are sold at a Cuyeria. This was held up to our window in the bus to entice us to purchase one as a snack. Uh…no, thank you!
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