Peru 3 – Sacred Valley (Cusco, Písac, Ollantaytambo, Machu Picchu)

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Lucky me, to have a 2008, a 2011, and now a 2024 visit to the Sacred Valley, each time with at least one of my daughters, whose company is wonderful and whose Spanish gets me out of jams.

This trip, Laura rejoined me, bringing along her partner, Marc, for the first time. It seemed fitting to suggest a trip to see the Inca and pre-Inca ruins since Marc and Laura are building a house of stone themselves.

Here's Marc at the beginnings of the shop he was building — Here’s Marc at the beginnings of the shop he was building, which is now complete.

Some day I’ll negotiate the rights to publish a detailed post on their off-the-grid estate which Marc has rightly named Helm’s Deep.

Cusco and Sacsayhuamán

We flew from Denver to Los Angeles to Lima to Cusco, a typical itinerary, with good treatment from both Delta and LATAM. The bad treatment occurred in LAX where twice someone triggered a security alarm, filling the concourse with an incredibly loud, high-pitched noise that, surprisingly, OSHA has not silenced, a nuisance that that apparently has been occurring for over two years, according to a reddit thread.

On a practical note, I brought my Steripen, a fluorescent light that purifies water, saving us many bottles of purified water. Because it works particularly well in clear water, it’s perfectly suited to the task. Next time I’ll remember to bring a charger for the batteries, which didn’t last the trip. The newer models have built-in chargers.

We landed in Cusco at 11,000 feet, so beautiful a descent. Against our better knowledge, we took a taxi that the boss (el jefe) pressure-talked us into as we exited the airport. His man took us to a relative’s hotel that had no vacancy. Wanting to get away from this situation, we started walking on the least desirable avenue in Cusco, until we reached the plaza and went uphill to nicer parts to find lodging.

Much of what we did in Cusco involved the ruins, walking twice to Sacsayhuamán.

If I ever understand how it was possible for some unknown peoples to erect such massive, uniquely shaped stone walls without mortar, fitting millimeters apart, standing firmly for hundreds or thousands of years, I’ll add a post about it. For now, I’ll just touch on the business while mentioning some interesting and sometimes funny events of the Peru trip.

As we walked toward Sacsayhuamán, we inspected other stone edifaces.

Here we are at Sacsayhuamán, just outside of Cusco. These rocks anticipate larger, more tightly placed rocks among these indestructible ruins (rendering the word “ruin,” a misnomer)

One descends from Sacsayhuamán to a steep walkway filled with shops and apartments.

It was in 2008 that I learned to appreciate café cortados—in Cusco. Oddly, I was having a hard time finding a real cortado this trip…generally getting something like a very small cappucino instead…so the hunt was on.

Continuing down the street — Continuing down the flowered street

view of Cusco — While I stayed in our original hotel, Laura and Marc moved to the bargain quarters (1/4 the price with an amazing view)

Louis Laundry — I didn’t really need the laundry since I wash my clothes when I shower on this type of trip…but, there was a laundry for me if I needed it!

Our last stop in Cusco was the market, which had a wonderful fresh juice bar. We were recovering from a comical incident…one of the vendors tried to sell us some painting reproductions…Laura understood the price as a dollar…I couldn’t pass up anything, even a reproduction, for a dollar, so we agreed on the purchase only to find out the dollar was for the cardboard tube, not the artwork; the seller had a good sense of humor, calling himself Picasso Junior

Pisac

In 2011, Laura and I ran from Cusco to Pisac, about 20 miles. This time we took a bus.

I’ll always like this town that is bordered on one side by the Urubamba River and on the back side by Inca ruins.

terraces Pisac — Looking at the terraces that lead toward the Pisac ruins

Nice view of Pisac. As it turned out, Marc and Laura advanced farther and further than I on this outing. At the far end, I took a taxi back to town, while they walked back, finding themselves buying goods from, apparently, the cutest child in Peru when they entered town. While waiting for them, I entered a business that had “electric” in its name, hoping to find a battery charger—but was given an uncharacteristic cold shoulder, only to find out from Laura who found it humorous that I had wandered into a telecommunications company.

Ollantaytambo “oh-yahn-tai-tahm-boh”

We took a collectiva to Ollantaytambo, the only new town for Laura and myself, and one that challenged Pisac for its charm, probably surpassing Pisac for its ruins. We found our hotel by chance, coming across it just as an Anglo woman also walked up to the door, saying, “I used to run this place.” She dropped off a nine-year-old child without going in, but we went in, finding the owner hospitable (but perhaps not to his ex-wife who had dropped off the the child) and informative.

Because Ollantaytambo is the location from which one train to Machu Picchu departs, many visitors do not enjoy the nearby ruins, but Marc and Laura explored them with typical rigor.

Ollantaytambo ruins — Some of what Laura and Marc saw—this photo not doing full justice to the expanse

Machu Picchu

Of all the ruins in the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu most clearly conveys the sense of a community, a place where one might have wanted to live. Dodging people and tour groups reminded me that, although I wanted Marc to see Machu Picchu, I would probably not return, finding the less populated areas of the Sacred Valley so attractive

Not only did I get to Machu Picchu later, but I left earlier than Laura and Marc. I decided to take the bus down instead of returning on the steep trail that leads back to Aguas Calientes. But the bus queue kept growing and the bus-every-five-minutes event was not happened.

Bus wreck — The reason I had to wait for the bus became clear when, finally catching the bus, I saw that an earlier one had taken a hairpin curve too early (about 20 yards too early!)

train from Santa Maria — In 2008 when we visited Machu Picchu, we took the inexpensive route from Cusco to Santa Maria, walking a few miles along or on the train track to Aquas Calientes…this is the same track and we enjoyed walking part way toward Santa Maria again, where there is now in the jungle a restaurant that Laura and Marc enjoyed

Parting shot: before leaving Aguas Calientes, I found a perfect café cortado and perhaps won a game of chess

We took a different train back, one that heads straight toward Cusco but must stop eight miles outside since the climb would be prohibitively steep for a train. A skilled taxi driver got us through the narrow, busy streets of Cusco at night in time for our return flight. Thank you, driver.

Here’s a nine-minute slideshow of our trip that I put together for friendss who were in the left-behind (outside of Peru) series:

Cusco and Sacsayhuamán

Pisac

Ollantaytambo “oh-yahn-tai-tahm-boh”

Machu Picchu

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