Saqsayhuaman or as the Gringo´s say: Sexy Woman

Yesterday we paid about 12$ to take a full day tour to the furthest sites in the Sacred Valley in Cusco, Peru. This included waking up by 8am to be picked up at 8:30.
Picking up passengers all over the town and then dropping them off?? And then picking up a tour guide ? Very funny scenario.





these photos are from PISAC.
Anywhoo... Our first stop was Pisac which included a small but neat market. We were greeted by locals who instantly gave us coca tea. This always helps me with the altitude. We then went to Pisac to visit ruins. These were quite a mini trek to get up to. DO not hold on to the ONE wooden hand rail that extends maybe 5 feet. it doesn´t look sturdy! It appears to have been part city, part ceremonial center, and part military complex. The Pisac ruins might have been a royal estate of the Inca emperor (Pachacútec). It was certainly a religious temple. It has a current running waterway that connects to a well and once the water level reaches a certain point the excess water goes down the hill. Still being used today. WOW!

Second stop. Buffet. for lunch. As our tour guide said "Very important, VIP tour group, our second stop is the most important, the buffet. Do not push your spouses over the cliff to get there. not yet." Silly tour guide who I caught listening to his MP3 player singing "hey, hey, yeah yeah I could be your girlfriend!!"

Second ruins visited: Ollantaytambo. These were more impressive because of the size and layout. I stopped halfway due to illness but met Kevin at the bottom and still enjoyed their running fountain. How are they still running these waterways. I am impressed.





Last site was more of a visit. No ruins. This was at the town of Chinchero. The church there was very historic. Frescos still painted and restored on the walls. Canvas paintings over that. No pictures allowed but I took a sweet mental picture that might last a few more days. The most interesting part of this place was being able to watch a woman recreate the process of cleaning alpaca and llama fur with a tree root that created suds. then strung the fur into perfect threads of string. and create a red dye from a cactus parasite and everything. so we bought gloves here. WHICH I LOOOVE!!! and supported this community town and how much hard work they put into creating goods.



The whole time our guide kept saying. Last person to the van has to buy a round of Pisco sours (alcoholic drink) and he was consistenly the one last to the tour van. So at the end of our trek right after visiting Chinchero, he let us try this anise alcoholic drink which was alright. Anise is a spice very similar to black liquorice. It was nice to try. We also were able to try Chica which is fermented corn turned into an alcoholic drink by all locals, still today. If you see a large tall branch with a red plastic bag at the end that means that house sells chicha!

tasting the anise drink. mini cups.
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TODAY We took a $5 taxi ride up to the top of the furthest but CLOSEST cluster of sacred valley sites. We got dropped off at Tambomachay which was known as the bathing place for royalty. Still running waterways. neat.

We walked across the street to Puka Pukara and no one punched a hole in our ticket (We had to buy a "tourist ticket" for 16 included sites and museums and show our ticket with student i.d.s for each site) This was a small tiny site where apparently a bunch of school children were playing hide-and-go-seek...Imagine playing games in a historical Inca site. crazy!

So all the children - in their uniforms - must be wealthier than the children we see on the streets... They practiced their English with us and said "Hello" "hello!!" and one girl: not thinking we speak ANY spanish shouts from atop the highest rock looking down to us "Hello Gringos Feos!" HAHAHA calling us ugly white people. oh well. Kevin whispered "I´m not white" Then her classmate says "Un SOl por favor" pretending to beg for money. Because a Gringo´s favorite passtime is handing out change to local children? haha.

We walked about 1 hour or more to the next site called Saqsayhuaman or Sacsayhuamán. As the guides like to make fun. This name sounds SOO much like Sexy Woman and it is hard not to pronounce it like that. This site was HUUUGE. The rocks were large and the largest weighs about 70 tons. The Incas worked together to carry these rocks to build this structure. Man, do I feel lazy and unproductive compared to them. :)
We spent the most time here and at the end found out we could walk back to our hostel from here. For a total of a 5 mile walk across all the local Sacred Valley ruins. Neat!!