Sacred Valley. This place is awesome

Today we started with a nice Peruvian breakfast at our hotel. We took it easy getting up (it was the 1st time we slept passed 530 in the last few days) and started around 10. Our driver, a tourism major from a Cuzco university, took us through several towns in the Sacred Valley before entering Pisac, a very important city of the Incas. Pisac is known for it´s famous markets and Inca ruins in the hills. We tour the ruins first, which were at a very comfortable 12, 500 feet. This historical site has a strong military importance, located on the edge of the Sacred Valley. The hillside is lined with look out towers and agricultural terraces. After discovering that our legs and lungs were still quite beat up from Machu Picchu, we headed down to the markets for some lunch and a little haggling, my personal favorite.

A shot from last night. How many times do you see me.

Ryan on the trail at Pisac´s ruins

The markets in Pisac or known to have the best/cheapest peruvian products and corn on the cob. We spent a couple hours haggling for gifts that probably cost 1/8th of what we paid. I taught Ryan a valuable lesson about the art of negotiation, ahem, dont settle for the first or second offer.

Ryan likes Peruvian Maiz, huge kernels

After Pisac, we explored another Inca site called Moray. Here there are gigantic circular depressions in the ground that are around 30 meters deep. The reasons for these circles are still unknown, although many believe that it had something to do with studying different climate effects on agriculture.

Leaving Moray. One of many typical scenes in the Sacred Valley

Photo of the sunset just before this post. Sonesta Posadas Del Inca Hotel.

Tomorrow, we leave the Sacred Valley early in the morning and head to Cuzco, where we catch the 8am flight back to Lima. We are then renting a car and heading south for a few days. We are looking forward to enjoying the coast and exploring the sand dunes.