From the moment we landed in Peru, I was yet again blown away by the Andean landscape. We arrived in Cusco, the Capital of the Incan Empire, on Thursday morning, toured the city, bought an adorable baby alpaca hat, and drove through the Sacred Valley the following day.
Throughout the drive, we got a spectacular view of Peru as we drove through tiny, windy switchbacks going far into the snowcapped Andes. We saw the Inca ruins nearby the city of Cusco – Sacsayhuaman (pronounced like “Sexy Woman”, Q’enqo and Pukapukara ruins. The boulders the Incans used were an unfathomable size. Then we stopped at Awanakancha to visit an Alpaca farm; I grabbed handfuls of greens to feed to the alpacas and llamas. Too cute, and I managed not to get spit on!
We then went through the colonial town named Pisac to go to an Inca Complex (the cemetery sector). After the Pisac ruins, we went back to Pisac to the traditional market in the downtown area, and visited the silver workshop where I bought a beautifully colorful, totally “Sarah” ring – love it.
Later in the afternoon we drove to the salt mines of Maras, and then to the circular experimental terraces of Moray. While we were walking around, we saw a people doing yoga in these circular terraces, which inadvertently reminded me how much I miss yoga. We took a dusty, but nice road down into the Sacred Valley to go to the Ollantaytambo Inka Complex where we stayed before heading to Machu Picchu the following morning. Oh, and we ate fantastically – I tried Alpaca with Wasabi sauce and Guinea Pig, beyond delicious.
