caramelo

And here again we see the superstitions, lucky charms etc:

And finally we saw this beautiful girl:

We saw again women with braids in their hair and their hats:

We arrived in Pisac, 33 kilometers from the city of Cusco.Pisac is famous for three reasons: their artesian markets; their Sunday Masseswhich are celebrated in Quechua and are accompanied by the sound of pututos (marine snail horns which are inherited from generation to generation), and finally, as a means of payment they use barter, meaning that their dealers not only sell but also exchange goods.For example, those living in the highlands are supplying their products in exchange for something else which they want to buy.

We went directly to the main square which is full of color with the market where you can buy textiles and many other things.

We left Urubamba and drove towards the town of Pisac, and saw the following scenes in the streets, with the moto-taxis, you could see that they used actual motorbikes:

My attention was drawn to the fact that in these small villages with basic infrastructure and quite poor people, that they had the children beautifully dressed in good school uniforms:

And in the next picture you have the mixture of the modern (the boy with his cap backwards and cool sunglasses with white frame) with the moto-taxis and people in the background:

And what could be nicer than eating listening to "The Flight of the Condor” played on the panflute?:

To the north of the entrance to the religious sector there are a number of water fountains which due to their position they must have performed duties of "Ceremonial fountains, ie, used to worship the god of water.There is one inside a building where water still flows, and to the east is another called of " Nusta Bath" ("The Bath of the Princess"):

The Water Temple Fountain:

The Nusta Bath or The Bath of the Princess:

When we finished the visit to Ollantaytambo, we took the car and returned to the town of Urubamba for lunch and we stopped at a restaurant where we enjoyed a typical Andean buffet:

The Wall of the Six Monoliths at the Sun Temple:

The highlight of the Sun Temple are some peripheral walls and a classical larger wall which according to most historians are part of the main altar which consists of six enormous stone blocks that weigh about 90 tons and has as vertical joints a few other smaller stonesmaking a rare wall in Inca architecture.

Here are some more photos of the colcas (agricultural deposits), which the Inca archeology and architecture were "Qollqas" or "Pirwas" that is, barns or storehouses for food, clothing and weapons of the local army.

We climbed up the terraces or platforms:

I was very curious to know and understand how the stones which the Incas used to build their cities were transported so far and high without having the roads or machines like today.

Juan Carlos our guide explained everything extremely well, and with old drawings where you could compare what you saw with your own eyes to what with drawings showed which made it so much easier to understand. Being so high and far from everything, I found it fascinating to think they achieved to move the huge stones and pieces from several miles away. Normally I am not very interested in archaeological sites but as Juan Carlos explained everything so well, I really enjoyed it and found it very interesting.

The Sun Temple was constructed with huge red porphyry (pink granite) boulders. The stone quarry is named Kachiqhata (Salt Slope) and is located about 4 km (2.5 miles) away on the other side of the valley, by the upper side of the opposite south-western mountains. He explained to us that the boulders were carved partially in the quarries, and taken down to the valley's bottom. In order to cross the river Quechuas constructed an artificial channel parallel to the natural river bed that served for deviating the river's water according to conveniences. Therefore, while that water flowed through one channel the other was dry, thus stones could be taken to the other side of the valley. More over, the boulders were transported to the upper spot where the temple is erected using the inclined plane that is something like a road which silhouette is clearly seen from the valley's bottom. They had the help of log rollers or rolling stones as wheels, South-American cameloids' leather ropes, levers, pulleys, and the power of hundreds and even thousands of men. Today, on the way from the quarry to the temple there are dozens of enormous stones that people know as " tired stones" because it is believed that they could never be transported to their destination; those stones are the reason why some authors claim that the Sun Temple was unfinished when the Spanish invasion happened.

We arrived at the town of Ollantaytambo which is called "Live Inca Village", since the inhabitants maintain their ancient customs and traditions.

This typical Inca town, located 93 km northeast of Cusco, was named in honor of the chief Ollanta, who according to the traditional legend, fell in love with a princess daughter of the Inca Pachacutec. As the story goes after winning numerous battles, the ruler Pachacutec offered the general anything he wanted. Ollanta asked for the princess Kusi’s hand in marriage. It was sacrilegious for people in different casts to marry. Ollanta was forced to leave and Kusi was jailed with her son. Ollanta gathered forces and started a rebellion which lasted 10 years. Ollanta was eventually defeated and enslaved. When Ollanta was taken, Pachacutec had just died and Pachacutec’s son took over. Pachacutec’s son listened to the story of the two lovers and granted a pardon and allowed their marriage. The two lovers then lived happily with their child.

Ollantaytambo is an attractive little town located at the western end of the Sacred Valley (about two and a half hours by bus from Cusco). The town has been built on top of original Inca foundations and is the best surviving example of Inca town planning.

The town is divided in canchas (blocks) which are almost entirely intact. Each cancha has only one entrance (usually a huge stone doorway) which leads into a central courtyard. The houses surround the courtyard. Good examples of this construction can be found behind the main plaza.

The town is located at the foot of some spectacular Inca ruins which protected the strategic entrance to the lower Urubamba Valley. The temple area is at the top of steep terracing which helped to provide excellent defences. Stone used for these buildings was brought from a quarry high up on the opposite side of the Urubamba river - an incredible feat involving the efforts of thousands of workers. The complex was still under construction at the time of the conquest and was never completed.

After Manco Inca was defeated by the Spanish at Sacsayhuaman following the unsuccessful siege of Cusco (1536) he retreated to Ollantaytambo. Francisco Pizarro's younger brother Hernando led a force of 70 cavalry, 30 foot soldiers and a large contingent of natives to capture Manco Inca. The Inca's forces, joined by neighbouring jungle tribes, rained down showers of arrows, spears and rocks upon the unfortunate Spanish troops. In an intelligent move the Inca's flooded the plains below their stronghold making it difficult for the horses to manoeuvre. Hernando, uncharacteristically, ordered a hasty retreat. Ollantaytambo became the only place ever to have resisted attacks from the Spanish.

However, their victory was short-lived when the Spanish returned with four times their previous force. Manco Inca retreated to his jungle stronghold in Vilcabamba and Ollantaytambo fell into the hands of the Spanish.

You can see the tourist influence with the words "Kodak" painted on the facade of a house:

If you look at the photo above, on the left hand side in the middle of the mountain you can see the colcas (agricultural deposits), I will give you more details about them later:

The archaeological complex of Ollantaytambo was a strategic military, religious and agricultural.In the complex, located on the hill overlooking the village, some buildings stand out such as the Temple of the Sun, the Mañaracay or Royal Hall, the Incahuatana and the Baths of the Princess.At the top is a consistent fortress in a series of carved stone terraces and was built to protect the valley from the potential invasions of wild ethnicities.One of the best preserved areas is that lying north of the Hanan Huacaypata square: a total of 15 blocks of houses built on walls of stone.

I also found this map of Google which will give you an idea of the location of everything within Ollantaytambo:

We passed through the village of Urubamba and it coincided that today was their market day and therefore the town was crowded and we saw many women dressed in their traditional clothing, their hats and braids in their hair:

There were also plenty of moto-taxis around town ... ... ... ... ... ..and these were not for the tourists but were used by the local village people.

After the visit we went back down the steep street again and took the car to continue:

I don´t know whether you can see it properly, but if you look in the following image at into the dyed wool of the lady at the center, as the wool has two colors, the bottom part is almost an orange color and this color is obtained by adding salt to the cochineal, while the top remains as burgundy or purple color.

Below, the ladies were preparing the warp of the weave that has a special process in order for the design to be appreciated on both sides of the fabric:

There was a huge variety of products from hats to ponchos and rugs:

They cleverly use a spinning wheel to spin the yarn:

They use natural dyes to dye the wool:

One of them is the cochineal, a parasite that lives in the leaves of the prickly pear.The lady has put some of the cochineal insects in the palm of her hand and with her finger has squashed out the burgundy-colored natural dye:

They also use other dyes such as those from leaves, roots etc.

They use the wood stove to boil the wool with natural dyes:

The next image shows us again as to how superstitious the people are in this country. The photo is not good, but if you look just above the roof of the house, where you can see the 2nd yellow square from the right and you'll see some symbols for luck placed on the roof:

Here you can see it better:

Chinchero is a village in the Peruvian province of Urabamba, at 3780 m altitude, 30 km northwest of the city of Cuzco. The village women work at weaving. Also characteristic for combing their hair with many braids and plaits. When you arrive in the village they will reciev you in one of the houses where they have all gathered to show you the complete weaving process.

They first wash the wool with natural soap made from roots:

After a while we arrived at the destination of our first stop, the village of Chinchero:

The following image was a poster that was exhibited at our hotel in Cuzco but I'll put it here because it explains exactly what we were going to visit here in Chinchero:

Entering the village there is even a statue dedicated to the women of Chinchero:

On the street where we were going I was amused to see some pigs eating in the street and the whole scene around him:

In the middle of the country miles from anywhere we found these local women trying to sell their products and textiles:

We carried on driving through the countryside:

More scenes of the daily life:

We went out of Cuzco towards the countryside where we saw a lot of scenes of everyday life.

We could see from a distance where we had been the day before visiting the Incan ruins of Sacsayhuaman:

It seemed a long time but may have only been a few minutes, but eventually my husband returned and what was my surprise ... ... ... .. to see that he was not alone but accompanied by 2 other people ……. And I knew them …. It was a couple from Malta who we had met a year ago on another trip in South Africa and during that holiday we shared several excursions together day after day and eventually built up a friendship with them – when we returned journey we exchanged several emails butasthe months passed, due to their very stressful job, they had no time and the contact died out. The last email was from last Christmas.

By chance we met up again in Cuzco. What an amazing coincidence!I understand that you can be in the same city as someone without knowing it, but to coincide in the same street, at the same time, and to be looking in the right direction to see one another is incredible.My husband had seen them from the 1st floor restaurant overlooking the square and ran to catch them, knowing that if he had waited to explain it to me then he wouldn´t have had time to catch them!

We were all so happy with the unexpected reunion and we celebrated by taking a "pisco sour".They had a reservation at another place for dinner and we had already eaten, but we've arranged to have dinner together the next night.Both they and we had booked the trip with different itineraries and different agencies but in general would be covering some of the same places ... ... ....and now I can tell you as an anecdote that over the entire trip we met by chance one night in Cuzco, again at the entrance of Machu Picchu, at the airport in Balta, even on an island in the Galapagos being in twodifferent ships and where normally two boats do not go to the same island at one time to avoid overcrowding, and even on the flight back to Baltra to Guayaquil, ie up to 5 times and by chance without having arranged to meet!So I think fate was trying to tell us something ... .. that we need to stay in touch.

Wednesday, 4th of August.

We went down for breakfast and on the elevator door was this sign again reminding us that we were in an active area for earthquakes:

For breakfast we replaced the coffee with coca leaf tea (Mate de Coca)

Mate de coca or coca tea (Quechua kuka) is a coca leaf tea popular and typical of the Andean regions of Bolivia, Peru, northern Chile and northwestern Argentina.

It is an ancient beverage consumed as both a stimulant and to treat altitude sickness or mountain sickness, not being harmful or toxic.It also has a symbolic value.The drink produces an energizing effect similar to coffee.The sale and consumption of coca leaf is legal in Peru and Bolivia.It is common in restaurants to end the meal offering a coca tea in bags or sachets to stimulate digestion.It can be sweetened with sugar or honey.

Everyone jokes about coca tea relating it to drugs but seemingly it has nothing to do with the same, as the drug is mixed with chemicals etc., and leaves alone only help to give some energy in the same way as if you were to drink a “red-bull. "The truth is that I did not notice any effect ... no extra energy ... or anything ... ... ....just as if I had taken a chamomile tea, for example!

After my coca tea we have collected at 8:30 pm for a private tour of the Sacred Valley.El Valle Sagrado of the Incas in the Andes is composed of many rivers flowing through gorges and valleys, has many archaeological monuments and indigenous peoples, among them are Pisac, Ollantaytambo and Chinchero

The valley was appreciated by the Incas due to its special geographical and climatic qualities.It was one of the main points of production because of the richness of their land and place where it produces the best maize in Peru.

We were lucky with today's guide, Juan Carlos, who was really great and explained everything extremely well.First we made the trip in reverse to get to the places before they got crowded with the bus tours.

Again we went through many of the narrow streets of downtown Cuzco:

We returned to the hotel at 6:30 pm and after a shower we walked back to the Plaza of Armas which was very close to the hotel and we dined at the Makayla restaurant which offered typical Andean food and it was located on the 1st floor with nice views overlooking the square lit up at night.

This is their website:

http://www.makaylacusco.com/index_es.html

These were the views from our table:

I got a fright as suddenly my husband jumped from the table and ran from the restaurant.He said something, but it all happened so quickly that I didn´t understand what he had said. I just knew something had happened ... ... ... it was not normal to go out running in this way without any explanation.The only thing I could think of was thatbefore dinner we went to a place to change money and I thought maybe he has forgotten his wallet and ran off to look for it ... ... ... could find no logical explanation to the situation ... ... I only knew that something had happened ....BUT WHAT ??????

TO BE CONTINUED…………………..

Our last stop was the Temple of Quenco.

It is located on the hill Socorro, 3 km from the city of Cusco and one kilometer of Sacsayhuaman. Apparently this is a place of worship of water. We found many carved rocks among which a large monolith stood out and it is believed that this was used for magical rituals to worship the water.

Then we went to Tambomachay, or Tampumachay (from Quechua: tanpu mach'ay, resting place) which is an archaeological site associated with the Inca Empire, located near Cusco, Peru. An alternate local name is the El Baño del Inca, "The Bath of the Inca".

It consists of a series of aqueducts, canals and waterfalls that run through the terraced rocks. The function of the site is uncertain: it may have served as a military outpost guarding the approaches to Cusco, as a spa resort for the Incan political elite, or both.

It lies at an altitude of 3700 meters above sea level and 7 km northwest of Cusco and 2 km. from Sacsayhuaman and occupies an area of 437 meters.

I have heard about the “black sheep” but what about “black llamas”? hahaha:

It also known as "Baño de la Ñusta" (Bath of the Ñusta) or "Balneario Inca" (Incan Watering Place). The monument is remarkable due to its architectonic excellence. We can appreciate four walls or graded terraces embedded to the hill, made of irregular carved-stone polyhedrons, brilliantly assembled, and which make up three parallel cultivation terraces. A thick wall (15 meters long and 4 meters high) decorated with four niches erects on the last polyhedron. The stones had been perfectly adjusted. It has four large trapezoidal niches of 2 meters on average. In front of the building there was a circular large fortified tower that must have had defense and communication aims.

The water itself was worshiped as the source of life.

Tambomachay has an extraordinary hydraulic system. Two aqueducts, artistically carved on the rock, transport and keep a constant flow of clean water during the whole year, which comes from a large puddle located at a higher level.

This network of underground channels pours its waters in a small stone puddle situated at the lowest level. This puddle had to be a liturgical spring, where the Inca worshiped the water with the noblemen of the Empire.

The "Baño de la Ñusta" is very similar to that of Ollantaytambo, made of stones perfectly assembled, with carved edge and drainage gutters. Even though it is now an opencast work, the foundations seem to indicate that it was a closed precinct originally. We enter through four trapezoid portal platforms with double jamb.

If you look the monument from the river you will be able to see two thick walls that cut the support wall. The wall that faces the river has two big niches and the other, almost perpendicular to the first one, has a door with double jamb. This kind of door was used by the Incas to stress the significance of a place. Through that door we get to a small room in which we can see the water that springs from the bowels of the Earth.

So far we haven't been able to discover the origin of the spring that supplies such clear and abundant water to the sources. Some people think that the slight slope in where the site is situated does not have the capacity to produce said water and that it can come from the opposite bank of the river. However, the one thing that cannot deny is the perfection of the channel carving. The sound of the water, the quietness and peace of the environment, as well as the closed and secluded form of the space in which it was constructed, give Tambomachay a peculiar atmosphere. Besides, it is a great sample of the skills of Andean architects to harmonize constructions and landscape.

In the surrounding area you can see a replica of the Christ the Redeemer in Brazil, but this one which was a gift from a Palestinian settlement is somewhat smaller.Interestingly it appears that the largest is in Bolivia but the Brazilian one is more famous and seems to be bigger because it is up on a hill.

When we left Sacsayhuaman we saw some nice landscape and countryside on the way:

And some country houses:

These are the views from there ... ... ....in the background you can see the letters on the mountain "Long live the glorious BIM 9 Cusco Peru, I supposed it was to celebrate a battle won by the 9th Motorized Infantry Battalion Cusco:

It was funny to see this woman take her llama in the same way that you take your dog for a walk:

But the llama didn´t want to go:

But she managed in the end:

We saw a group of sellers waiting for the tourists: