“Don’t lie, don’t steal, and don’t be lazy”, would be the greeting you would be met with by the Quechuan natives in The Sacred Valley in Pre-Colombian times - and you are still today. If you understood the language. This is the language from the time of the Incan empire, and we finally reached Urubamba yesterday afternoon after flying into Cusco (note: no “z’ in Cusco) which is at elevation 3,400 metres. Our hotel, the Sol y Luna, is at a more modest 2,900 metres, but you do still puff a bit on the uphill climb to the restaurant.
Today we visited that tongue-twister, Ollantaytambo, to see the elegant and intricate granite complex that is part temple, part royal palace, and part funerary site. All sculpted out the the granite lugged over from the opposite side of the valley, across the river, and then up the hillside and put into place. And will still be there for many more millenia given the skill of the Inca stonemasons.
Before heading to our next destination, we visited a traditional home in Ollantaytambo which to our great delight had dozens of guinea pigs running about, but the sad truth is that (yes) the Peruvians do eat guinea pigs as a delicacy. These are being bred for the table, and as for preparation, think KFG.
We then travelled about 45 minutes to Pisac, which has these incredible hillside terraces, and ascended by path and steps to 3,500 heart-pounding metres to the top of the ancient Inca village. Stunning views all around. And there are villages with current residents even higher from where we were today!
One of the positive takeaways from today’s hikes is that Kirsty and I are not the oldest people ascending these heights (by a considerable margin) and Douglas is enjoying being the fittest by miles. And I have been gently told that my blogs are a bit too long, so I hope you enjoy this shorter one.