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The Sacred Valley
© 2002 George Wang
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On our acclimatization day in Cusco we had a tour to the Sacred Valley of the Incas. This is the valley of the Urubamba river Just at the north edge, above Cusco, lies the Inca site called Sachsayhuaman (more or less pronounced "sex-ay wo-man"). Thought to be a fortress by the Spanish, but closer study suggests it was a temple. The massive rocks weighing up to 130 tons are fitted perfectly together in another demonstration of Inca precision engineering. |
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The drive to the Sacred Valley is quite a pleasant one
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Below is the meandering Urubamba river. The town of Taray lies nearby below in the valley
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Our first stop was the town of Pisac. Here we did some shopping in the central market which is busiest on Sundays .
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We had an excellent lunch in this idyllic setting in the town of Urubamba.
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Our main destination this day however was the town of Ollantaytambo, with its spetacular ruins on the surrounding hills. This is also a popular point for catching the train to the town at the foot of Machu Picchu.
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Inca architecture dominate the town, including the canal along the street.
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The Incas excelled at building structures into places seemingly inaccessible
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