Wednesday Pepe took the 3 of us on a tour of 3 ruins in the Sacred Valley including Pisaq, Ollantaytambo, and Chinchero.On our way to these sights we first stopped at an animal rescue center. This place is a refuge for wild animals that were either captured and treated poorly or found hurt in the wild. They had a a lot of animals and we even got to go in the cage with 3 condors...they were HUGE! They got so close while playing, we could feel and hear their wings as they hopped and flew around.
The bird is as big as Allison!
After the animal rescue center we traveled down the road to a llama and alpaca farm. Here, we fed and pet the animals and received a demonstration on how they process the alpaca wool with natural dyes and create their masterpieces.
This was obviously Allison's favorite alpaca...can you see the resemblance?
The dyes for the wool were really neat. They used herbs and stones to create the colors. One stone created a red hue, and depending if it was mixed with salt, lime juice, water, etc. it would change darker or lighter....up to 24 different hues from one color! The natural color is in the red in the dark stone at the bottom of the picture...you can see some of the other hues created from it on the paper cards next to the bowl.
The first ruin we went to this day was Pisaq. It was quite a climb to the top of the mountain, with some sections going straight up and others wrapping around the mountain. This area was a town, with living quarters, nobility section, look out points, ritual centers and many terraces for large agricultural production and an area for grain storage. The terraces are really interesting because the Incas used them as micro-climates to grow their agriculture. Each terrace has a slightly different temperature due to its position on the mountain and each would have contained a different product.
View of Pisaq ruins
Tiers for agriculture
Housing areas of Pisaq
Finally at the top!
The bird is as big as Allison!
After the animal rescue center we traveled down the road to a llama and alpaca farm. Here, we fed and pet the animals and received a demonstration on how they process the alpaca wool with natural dyes and create their masterpieces.
This is my favorite llama!
This was obviously Allison's favorite alpaca...can you see the resemblance?
The dyes for the wool were really neat. They used herbs and stones to create the colors. One stone created a red hue, and depending if it was mixed with salt, lime juice, water, etc. it would change darker or lighter....up to 24 different hues from one color! The natural color is in the red in the dark stone at the bottom of the picture...you can see some of the other hues created from it on the paper cards next to the bowl.
The first ruin we went to this day was Pisaq. It was quite a climb to the top of the mountain, with some sections going straight up and others wrapping around the mountain. This area was a town, with living quarters, nobility section, look out points, ritual centers and many terraces for large agricultural production and an area for grain storage. The terraces are really interesting because the Incas used them as micro-climates to grow their agriculture. Each terrace has a slightly different temperature due to its position on the mountain and each would have contained a different product.
View of Pisaq ruins
Tiers for agriculture
Housing areas of Pisaq
Finally at the top!
After lunch we continued on to more ruins. The second sight of the day was Ollantaytambo which was a strategic military headquarters with views from this side of the mountain, over the whole valley. However, when the Spanish came this was an area that was taken. You can tell that is was taken before the ritual area was completed because 12 ton rocks (already carved) are not yet put in place. Across from this mountain and ruins you can see the only Inca prison we saw. By the way the Incas only had 3 laws: Don't be Lazy, Don't Lie and Don't Steal.
We also ran into a 10-year-old little girl on the hike up and asked if she would sing us a folk song from the local area. She was adorable! The song is about a girl falling in love for the first time and all the new fellings that come along with it.
One of the several huge rocks that were not put in their final place.
The prison is in the center of the mountain on the left side of this picture. It was put in this location because of its difficult path up and down from the valley.
Half way up!
We also ran into a 10-year-old little girl on the hike up and asked if she would sing us a folk song from the local area. She was adorable! The song is about a girl falling in love for the first time and all the new fellings that come along with it.
View from the bottom of Ollantaytambo
One of the several huge rocks that were not put in their final place.
The prison is in the center of the mountain on the left side of this picture. It was put in this location because of its difficult path up and down from the valley.
Half way up!
Our little singer...I especially like her "gracias" at the end :)
The final ruin we went to was Chinchero. The interesting part of this ruin is that it is a Catholic Church built by the Spanish on top of an old Incan Temple. We couldn't take any pictures inside, but took a few outside of the area and the people around.
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