Sacred Valley of the Incas -day 1

Sacred Valley 1

Sacred Valley 1

We took a morning flight from Lima to Cusco and had lunch and met our guide, Jaime. We then began our journey to the Sacred Valley. We were surprised by the vegetation above 10,000 feet – similar to central California. No conifers were evident, but plenty of non-native Eucalyptus trees, generally despised because of their prodigious use of water in this relatively dry area..

Apparently coniferous forest’s existence is a function both of the altitude and the distance from the equator of a given area.

A great stop was made at the Awakancha weaver’s village and store. We saw Vicunas, Guanacos and Alpacas but no Llamas (their fur is not optimal for weaving.) Mike, having forgotten to pack a warm hat, purchased a facsimile of one worn by the mountain people. None of the hats available were as beautiful as those worn by the weavers, who demonstrated their skills, dye and weaving yarns. Mike surmised that those beautiful hats were reserved for indigenous people, not tourists.

Our next stop was for a high view of the stunning Sacred Valley of the Incas. It is a fertile valley surrounded by huge mountains with terraces. This left many of us wondering how people could possible access some of these terraces. Truly, they are part mountain goat.

In the Valley we shopped at the colorful Pisac market where we were immediately inundated, if not harassed, by sellers of pictures, beads, jewelry,etc. Strolling through the market we saw merchandise such as ponchos, blankets, Peruvian musical instruments, etc. I noticed that some of the fluorescent orange colors of the fabrics were far removed from those of the Awakancha weavers and were probably factory made.

Quecha is the native language spoken by the locals but some are proficient in Spanish and English as well.

Later we endured an endless but interesting “Offering to Mother Earth” which apparently is a purification ceremony preparing us for our visit to Machu Picchu. Marge and Dick broke into nearly uncontrollable and infectious giggling, thus giving us some comic relief from the beautiful but lengthy ceremony. The ceremony was ended with a Pisco Sour, the Peruvian national drink, and a small fire of the materials from the ceremony. The smoke was supposed to send the prayers to mother earth.

We arrived at perhaps the most beautiful hotel of the trip, Sol y Luna, consisting of separated circular roomy bungalows with tile roofs, adobe-brown walls, some stained glass windows, ceilings with beautiful beams. It all wassurrounded by lovely gardens. We had dinner in the central dining area, which was furnished modern furniture with a hint of the old Spanish style.