Our Great Adventure: Sacred Valley Day 268 13/06/2015

We had breakfast at the Amaru II, sorted our bags and waited to be collected along with Ann and Ted. To our surprise we joined a minibus full of people, none of whom were doing the Inca Trail with us. After driving around Cusco we transferred to a bus and joined even more people, all day trippers. KE's description of 'group' and 'we' is slightly misleading to say the least. Still no sign of our fellow trekkers. We stopped on route to the Sacred Valley at an artisan market (we later realised that this was to be the theme for the day) before continuing on to the head of the valley, with stunning views where we stopped to take photos. The valley is so called because of it's lush nature, fed by water from the high andes glaciers. It's star attractions are the Inca citadels of Pisac and Ollantaytambo. The citadel at Pisac lies high above the village on a plateau with a gorge on either side. At the top of the terraces is the ceremonial centre and on the cliff behind our hundreds of plundered Inca tombs. Unfortunately we only had 30 minutes at the site which was not enough time to wander around the pathways and view what looked like well preserved temples. Back on the bus we drove down to the town where we visited a silver shop and, you've guessed it, an artisan market spending more time here than at the ruins. We continued down the valley towards Ollantaytambo, stopping on route for lunch. There were two lunch spots with most of the day trippers going to the first restaurant whilst we went to a second restaurant, Tunupa, with Ann and Ted and a young couple from the US. The food was delicious and we enjoyed a three course buffet meal before heading back to the bus, very full! The ruins at Ollantaytambo were very impressive and are apparently the best surviving example of Inca city planning. The fortress stands above the cobble stoned village with step terraces guarding the ceremonial area called Temple of the Sun, that sits on top. The stone was quarried on the other side of the mountain high above the river and transported across. All of this was via manpower (no horses, donkeys or mules as they were introduced by the Spanish, and the river was diverted each time to get the stone across). When you think each stone was over 3 tonnes, you realise that is a massive feat of engineering, even for modern times. The whole area definitely reminded us of our visit to Easter Island. We had a bit of time to look around the site and the market in the village before getting on the bus. We were staying overnight in Ollantaytambo and were dropped off at the 'group' hotel near the railway station, the Tunupa Lodge (no relation to the restaurant we stopped at for lunch). It was still relatively early so we dropped off our bags and walked the short distance back to the village, stopped for refreshments and set off to walk up the hill opposite the main ruins where the granary and other buildings were located. We only made it as far as the main granary before being whistled off by the security guard who was keen to close the site at 5pm prompt. In the evening we headed out to dinner with Ann and Ted, eating in one of the many restaurants just off the main square. We'd had an interesting day, the ruins at Pisac and Ollantaytambo were very impressive and it would have been good to have had more time at both sites and less at the various markets. We were disappointed not to have met our fellow trekkers and instead be with a large group of day trippers. Hopefully we'll get to meet them tomorrow!