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From the terrace of the Hostal Resbalosa ((Resbalosa street, 494) you can enjoy a wonderful view of the Plaza de Armas and some other roofs of Cuzco.
You don't have to sleep there to enjoy it, you can go and have a coffee there, or even just enter the place and go to the terrace, take the photo and leave, nobody will stop you. Leave a Comment
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Just below the Coricancha is this little archeological museum, not often visited. I entered as it is inckuded in the Boleto Turístico, and I had already bought it for some Inca ruins outside Cuzco, so I had to use it.
Is not a Top5 museum here in Cuzco but has got some interesting sights and is rather small. You exit the museum by the grass field in front of the Coricancha and can have a walk by the ruins then. Leave a Comment
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This night we was walking randomly, wasting time, you know, looking for something.
In front of us the door of a dark club with a dark stairs. Go ahead my brave patagonic indian!!
And going upstairs suddenly... the mummies.
ARE REALLY mummies? The guy told us "YES!"
And if you approach them and inspect (I'm not an expertise but, I had seen dead people sometimes...) in fact, I believe are real mummies hanged on the wall... and singing. Leave a Comment
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Before setting off to Peru I had never heard of Pikillacta and new nothing of the Wari (or the Huari). I only knew of Pikillacta after my visit to the National Museum in Lima where I saw a large model of the layout of the ruins. Having a morning to spare I though I would visit the place. I rented a taxi through my hotel and off I went. I thought that it was well worth the expense of the cab ride (60 Sols). The site was really interesting, if you like ruins that is.
Pikillacta is the only Wari site in the region around Cusco. It dates from the early 12th century. The city consisted of a grid system of streets. The houses were two stories in height with the entrance on the second floor with ladder or stairway up to the door. The city was surrounded by a high stone wall that is largely still in place around the ruins. As far as ruins go, the setting of Pikillacta is nowhere near as spectacular as Machu Picchu or some of the other Inca sites. The stonework of the Wari was noticably inferior to the Incas. Still I think if you are interested in the ancient history of Peru you should visit the site as the Wari have a very important place in Peruvian history. They were in fact the first civilization in Peru that spread by means of military conquest.
When I toured the site, I was virtually the only foriegn tourists on their. The only other persons on the site were a touring university group, archeologists and their labourers. It was interesting to wander around alone without the hardsell of guides and hawkers bothering you.
Pikillacta is open from 7am to 6pm daily. Admission is by the boleto turístico only which begs the questions if it is covered by boleto turístico why more tourists do not visit the place. Leave a Comment
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Ollantaytambo is at the far end of the Sacred Valley as you travel from Cusco. If you get the train to Macchu Pichu from the Valley this is where you'll board it, and you may also come here to visit the well-preserved Inca terraced fort, but I recommend you also take the time to explore the village itself. It's built on the site of the Inca village and many of the houses are built using parts of the early Inca walls and houses. The streets still follow the Inca layout and the houses are hidden behind the walls that line them.
We were able to go into one of the village houses. It was one of those moments you get on your travels when you question whether you're being voyeuristic and taking advantage of people's good nature to peer at them as if in a zoo, or bringing them some variety and a valuable source of income. For me the attraction of being able to see into their lives and engage with them, however briefly, plus the photo opportunity it provides, always outweigh any discomfort I may feel, but I do understand that not everyone will share this view, so you need to decide for yourself whether to accept such an invitation.
Anyway, we did and found the experience fascinating. The house was built into the Inca village foundations, which was interesting, but even more so was being able to see how the family lived - particularly the small shrine (complete with two human skulls, which are valued in Peru as watching over the household) and the guinea pigs running freely across the floor (a future dinner of course, not pets). Other Contact: Our guide took us
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This was definitely one of the more bizarre sights we saw on our trip to the Sacred Valley! A huge salt mine carved out of the hillside, with terrace after terrace of mini salt-pans spread out in front of us. Although it was a Sunday a few people were working in the pans, dredging up the piles of salt and leaving them to dry out (I was going to say dry in the sun, but it was raining that day!)
In its way this was as spectacular a sight as the Inca ruins we saw elsewhere in the valley, perhaps just because it was so unexpected. Definitely worth the detour if you want to see something a little out of the usual.
The salt mines are signposted (I think) from the road that leaves the main road through the valley near Urubamba
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This village felt more remote than the others we visited in the Sacred Valley, perhaps because it's not on the main road that runs the length of the valley but tucked away and rather higher up. We visited on a wet Sunday and although there were plenty of other tourists around, the market was definitely set up primarily for the benefit of local people first and foremost. The traders obviously welcomed the opportunity to sell to the tourists but we could tell that the market would exist and thrive whether we came or not, which was refreshing. Much of the space was given over to foodstuffs but of course there were all the usual textiles and other souvenirs too. Musicians were playing, but again that seemed as much for the locals' enjoyment as for ours. I really liked browsing around here, despite the rain dripping on me from the plastic awnings overhead!
The other main attraction for me in Chinchero was the lovely colonial church with beautiful old paintings both inside and out. It's set on one side of a square which like the church itself is built on Inca foundations, and the setting is lovely, even in the rain.
Take your tourist ticket which you'll need to go up to the church although not for the market.
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Moray was one of the more unusual Inca sites we visited. It's basically a series of big, circular terraces in the middle of nowhere, with an out-of-this-world quality about them. These formed an Incan experimental farm; as the terraces descend into the centre of each circular formation they present a subtly different micor-climate from the previous terrace. This technology allowed the old Inca farmers to study the effect of altitude on different plants and to experiment with different varieties of plants to improve their crops.
The site is signposted from the road that leaves the main road through the valley near Urubamba
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Our horseback ride from Urubamba up past the salt terraces to Maras and Moray was the best adventure of our entire visit to Peru, For a mere $US60 a person, Rancho Casa Hospedaje supplied a non-English-speaking guide (Juan Carlos) to take for a nine-hour ride along the Urubamba River, then up a canyon into the high country, wher a whole new world awaits. It was a world of beautiful fields, snow-capped mountains, flocks of sheep and hard-working farmers (who lack machinery). We only intersected the road for our journey through the town of Maras -- otherwise we were on the same foot/burro paths that the locals use for transiting between towns. We got to see every day Andean life go by.
We saw no other tourists during the entire ride, but we saw plenty of people. Most of them waved. Amazingly, one of the people we saw wa Juan Carlos' uncle, who was walking somewhere with his aunt and a baby.
Despite the fact that Juan Carlos spoke no English, we communicated well enough in Spanish to learn a few things from him. He also taught us the word "cuidado" for "be careful", which is important when a pricker bush is heading rapidly toward your face. Leave a Comment Phone: 201-541Website: yojanguide75@hotmail.com Other Contact: at km 75 between Urubamba and Ol
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If you plan a daytrip to the Sacred Valley, make sure you stop in the village of Urubamba to check out the gallery/studio/house of one of Peru's most famous potters. He specializes in pre-columbian motifs and even if you are not big on art, this is a must see! We asked our bus driver to drop us off at the studio in Urubamba after hastily finishing our lunch, and he picked us up when the rest of the group were done with lunch. Leave a Comment
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