Sacred Valley

A couple of things which continue to amaze us as we travel Peru—one is –who has all of the change?? No one can make change for any amount—their profit margins are so small that no one carries a float. It means when you want to purchase something they will either tell you they cannot make change or if they do not want to lose the sale will tell you to wait while they rush of—sometimes up to 10 minutes—till they find another business that can do it.
The second is the lack of inventory anyone can carry—if you need toilet paper in your hotel room they will have to run out and buy one roll. If you order a beer in a restaurant they will run to the corner store and buy it. You buy aspirin and any other drugs by the tablet it makes us realize how close to the edge these people live.
We left Cusco to travel one hour to the village of Pisaq. It is at the head of the Sacred Valley which is 1500 feet below Cusco so is much warmer. They have a large tourist market there where we stocked up with the family gifts we had not bought previously so are now laden down even more.
The next morning we climbed the 2 hours up to the Inca Ruins. These covers a large area which took several hours to clamber around, it is fascinating to see the incredible labour which went into building these sites. The terracing which they used to plant their crops still exist, there was a supply of water channeled from springs and the river.
The village is cute and we spent a pleasant night there and the next day went further up the valley to another town and climbed up another set of ruins which was the location of one of the most sacred sites and had huge rocks which had been transported 6 miles from a neighboring mountain and they diverted the river to get them across. This village is built along narrow cobblestone streets the houses set in squares the backs opening onto a communal garden which was the way it has been since the 12th century. It was very charming.
The Spanish had finally beaten the Incas here and the leader had fled further into the Amazon where he was finally captured and killed and the empire collapsed. It was a fascinating trip.
The area is also known for its pottery so had a couple of visits with local potters. I had to buy a Toro (bull) to take back to the boat as the houses here all have them on their roofs to bring luck. I only got one so hope we do not only get half of the luck.
We head off tomorrow to hike the 4 day Inca Trail so will have had our fill of the ruins.
We then head back to our boat where we will repack and make our way back to Calgary which we are looking forward to.