Sacred Valley of the Incas: from Ollantaytambo to Pisac

Moray's circular terraces

The Salinas salt pools

When we returned from Machu Picchu we stayed in the Sacred Valley for another 3 nights. Our first stop was Ollantaytambo, a living Inca village. Most of the buildings, aqueducts and roads are just as they were when the Inca's reigned. As a result it's a little on the smelly side, but otherwise just beautiful. Surrounded on all sides by ruins that can be climbed over and explored. We crossed the river and wandered for hours through corn fields and farms, finding our very own private ruins.

We hired a driver for the day and went off road to discover some of the sites around the valley. Moray was first on our list. A series of circular terraces hidden in a small fold in the mountains. No one is entirely sure what they were used for but they are very pretty to see.
From Moray we went onto the Salinas salt pools. From a tiny stream in a hill trickles a flow of lukewarm salty water. When you dip your fingers in they dry out with salt crystals forming on them.  Since the Inca times this stream has been diverted into hundreds of pools to catch the salt.

We then caught a local bus up the valley to Pisac. Due to it's proximity to Cusco it attracts all the day trippers. So to avoid the crush we visited the Inca ruins that tower over the town. So glad we were told to catch a taxi to the top and walk down rather than slog uphill.

Church built on an Inca temple

Ollantay to Pisac cont'

Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu

Still in the clouds

Inca stairs

Everything you have ever heard about Machu Picchu is true. It is intense, momentous, and awe inspiring.
We caught the Peru Rail train up on Boxing Day and spent a quite depressing night in the hideous town of Aguas Calientes which sits at the base of the ridiculously tall mountains that hide Machu Picchu.

At 5.30am we set off for the infamous Inca seat of power and at 6am as the sun rose through the clouds, we stood in utter speechless awe and watched the city unfold beneath us. The single most important piece of advice we can give anyone wanting to go, is get there as early as humanly possible. To be standing  there in the mist with no sound, no other person in sight apart from the odd llama, it is just beautiful.
At 7.30 we set off to climb Huayna Picchu, the uncompromising mountain that looms 360m above Machu Picchu. It was tough, far harder than Colca Canyon. Inca stairs are hard work, carved out of cliff faces, horribly slippery and cutting steep paths straight uphill. But getting up was easy compared with actually being on the top. Once there I belated realised that we were standing on the tiny tip of the mountain, surrounded by abysses on all sides. I froze. I was no longer interested in the breath taking views. I did not want to be there anymore. It took half an hour of painfully slow backwards climbing to get down to a level I was comfortable with. G tried her damndest to get me to stand on the edge for spectacular photos. I was having none of it.

Once on the somewhat more solid ground of Machu Picchu we were ridiculously pleased we had arrived so much earlier. The crowds had arrived. The sound was the most unnerving, a white noise of voices shouting across the city. It was not possible to get a single view without masses of people in the background. It was like a different place. Snaking processions of tourists following the raised umbrellas of guides at every turn. Go early!

Huayna Picchu in all its terrifying glory