Sacred Valley

Today, I got out of Ollantaytambo and explored several of the other small towns in this region known as the Sacred Valley.  My taxi driver, Samuel, picked me up at 8:30, and we started our journey to Chinchero, Maras, and Moray!

Chinchero

Our first stop was Chinchero.  Samuel, through Google Translate, asked if I would like to stop at a textile factory on the way.  Um, okay, I guess.  It turns out this little place is a tourist trap that all the tours and drivers bring people to.  But, that’s okay, because it was fun!  The ladies working there gave me some mint tea (to help with altitude) and then did a demonstration showing how the Incas used natural ingredients to clean and dye wool from sheep, llama, and alpaca.  They started by showing me how they made “shampoo” to clean the wool (“sorry, it’s too late for you without a miracle”), and then proceeded to show how they would use different plants, minerals, and even beetles (she squashed some as a “sacrifice” to show me how red they are inside) to dye the wool.  Then they showed me this old bone used in the weaving process, and asked if I knew what kind of bone it was.  I guessed alpaca.  “No, no.  It’s a human leg bone.  From the last tourist who didn’t buy anything.  Remember that mint tea?  You will be next if you don’t buy something. Haha!”  This lady has jokes!  But, just in case, I did buy a few way overpriced presents.  On to Chinchero!  (It was an alpaca bone, for the record)

[Photo above: Emperor Atahualpa raises his scepter in defiance of the Spanish]

I should point out that the elevation here is 3,780m (12,401 feet), and I could feel that walking up the many steps to the archeological site. I won’t get into all the history of the town, but it’s a more preserved Quechua area, with Spanish being the second language.  It was the site of a fantastic Incan palace at one point, and you can still see some foundations of the palace that used to exist, as well as more agricultural terraces.

Maras

This was pretty cool, and not something I’d ever heard about before researching this trip.  Maras is home to the salineras, or salt mines.  Approximately 3,000 pools of salt are located on this site, which is actively in use (and has been since the 7th century, it is believed).  That’s several hundred years before the Incas when the Wari people inhabited the region.  Locals own pools that they tend and harvest for sale all over the country.

Moray

Finally, we made our way to Moray.  This is also a very unique place.  Historians believe the Incans created these concentric farming circles to perform agricultural tests for what grew best where (apparently, there is about a 9-10 degree temperature difference as one goes down the terraces; all I know is it was pretty damn hot at the top). 

A few more random photos from today:

For about $450 per night, you can stay at the Star Lodge and sleep in a capsule on the side of a mountain.  Look at the top photo above.  See the capsules?  No, look at the second photo that’s zoomed in on the same spot.  Maybe next time.

I keep forgetting to take a photo of the daily breakfast where I’m staying.  It’s the same thing every day, but it’s great.

I’ve been wanting to ride in one of these bad boys since I got here.  About 1 million have passed me on the street, so I took the opportunity on my last night to take a ride back to the lodge after picking up some snacks at the mini-mart.  Only five soles ($1.38) for a two-minute ride instead of a 10-minute walk.  It smelled like a gas powered go-kart, and the ride was bumpy, but I checked it off the list.

On my snack run, I also picked up some Coca candy.  It’s supposed to help with altitude sickness (just in case, since I’m going to Cusco tomorrow), as well as provide energy.  Imagine that!  Fun fact: these candies are illegal in the U.S. since they’re derived from the coca plant.  My doctor did tell me that I would show positive on a drug test in case that mattered.  Nope!  They are totally legal here, and they are also totally safe, mom.

Tomorrow morning I leave Ollantaytambo and relocate to Cusco to continue acclimating to a higher elevation.  I think the way I set the trip up has turned out to be pretty smart, if I do say so myself.  Starting at around 9,000 feet elevation has already been a little adjustment.  I think I’ve been a little dehydrated; they say you need to drink a LOT more water when you’re at higher elevations.  So, I’m fully hydrated now and ready to move to 11,000 feet tomorrow.  I expect I’ll have a slow day because I want to be careful not to overexert myself as I adjust.  This is definitely a different kind of trip when you factor in elevation.  You can’t just go, go, go all the time without slowing down because altitude is noticeable, and I want to be as fresh as possible for the Inca Trail starting at the end of the week.  Some people get really sick, and I’d like to avoid that.

Daily step count:  A below-average 12,705 (but I was in the car a lot driving from place to place)