Peru, day 6 (Sept 14)

Today we saw Pisac, Ollantaytambo and Chinchero. Another hot day once we got started. We drove from Cuzco to Pisac, a colonial town where we stopped at the "renouned" market. That's in quotes 'cause...to be honest, all the markets start to look like each other after a while. We spent some time here shoping for gifts. Got some good deals though. We then went to the nearby Inca ruins which has the largest Inca cemetary. We had to hike along a very narrow trail, which mom really didn't like at points. It was good to get out again and really stretch our legs. Going out wasn't too hard, but coming back had a few hills and sets of stairs that were challenging.

We had lunch in Urubamba at a "tourist restaurant." There are tons of these all over! What it is, is a set lunch where you choose from several appetizers, a main course and dessert all for a set price. Or a buffet. Some places were great, others only ok. This one was...ok I guess. From there we continued on to Ollantaytambo, a very well-preserved Inca site. The town of Ollantaytambo itself was beautiful and incredibly clean. It had these amazing water canals in the middle of the streets. They were built by the Inca and are still used today!

(Jean and Anne in the market at the base of the Ollantaytambo fortress)

The fortress of Ollantaytambo is a formidable stone structure that climbs these massive terraces to the top of a peak. It was the site of the Inca's greatest victory against the Spanish during the wars of conquest. It was incredibly windy there! After having our emplanation, Wilbur left us to climb up and explore the site. Now, standing at the bottom, I really wasn't sure I was going to go up. It was very steep with a ton of steps...however, he thought it would only take us 40 minutes to go up, accross and back down. After some hemming and hawing we decided to go ahead and try it. Took us 20 minutes! :) It was great though. Beautiful views...and to be honest it made us all feel better about our upcoming trek!!!! We were all finding the altitude difficult, so the fact that we could do Ollantaytambo with such ease made us feel much better.

(Mom and I crossing Ollantaytambo)

(One of the walls facing down into the Sacred Valley and the Urubamba River)
(Me coming down some of the steps)

By the time we got back in the bus, we were all pretty tired...and shopped out. There was a market in EVERY place we stopped. We wer planning on stoping in Chinchero on our way back to visit that market, but decided to just stop there briefly. Chinchero was evidently one of the valley's majoy Inca cities, and has a collonial church that was built on top of the remains of an Inca palace. It aslo had imense agricultural terraces.

We got back to Cuzco at about 7:00 pm after a beautiful drive where we saw San Juan Mountain which is approx 5,900 meters (about 19,500 feet). We were all tired, but we knew we had the next day "off." A day to rest, shop and explore in Cuzco and get ready for our trek.