Hi folks,
The last stop was in a city named Chinchero where the Inkas thought the rainbow was born. The latter was very important for them as they believed it was the connection between earth and sky. As it was already dark when we arrived we only visited a local texitle handcraft store and got a little demonstration on who ponchos, blankets, etc. are manufactured. The weavers there use different natural substances (lemons and cacti, for instance) to dye the alpaka or sheep wool.
today I made a really special tour. I went to the famous sacred valley of the Urubamba river which features many important Inka towns alongside its meandering stream.
En route to the first settling we stopped at a touristic market (as always!) and unfortunately our bus had some mysterious damage (I couldn't figure out what it was) and we had to spend not only twenty minutes with these vultures jumping at tourists but more than an hour. Exhausting!
Anyway, our first interesting stop were the old Inka ruins in a city called Pisac. These are located on a pleateau and famous for the terraces used for farming. We also went up to some religious temples. Really interesting was one house - only ruins were left - which, in former times, had two windows. At the beginning of the dry season the light of the rising sun fell through one window and illuminated a stone in the middle of the room (vice versa for the rain season). I am always intrigued by this kind of "calenders". But also the view on other mountains was great and there was a path up a really high one, unfortunately I didn't have the time to climb up to the peak.
After lunch, the second Inka pueblo was waiting: Ollantaytambo. You won't believe it, but here people still live in the houses the Inkas had built! The major sight, however, is the fortress -overlooking the village - in which the last Inka king, Tupac Amaru (not Tupak Shakur!), fought against the Spanish. When visiting Inka architecture, you always wonder how they could drag these immense stones up the hills (the ones for Ollantaytambo came from another mountain 6km away!). Have a look at the pictures, can you make out the faces the Inkas carved in the adjecent mountain?
The last stop was in a city named Chinchero where the Inkas thought the rainbow was born. The latter was very important for them as they believed it was the connection between earth and sky. As it was already dark when we arrived we only visited a local texitle handcraft store and got a little demonstration on who ponchos, blankets, etc. are manufactured. The weavers there use different natural substances (lemons and cacti, for instance) to dye the alpaka or sheep wool.
After that we made our way home to Cusco where I will spend yet another day. And then? Well, check in tomorrow when I will disclose the final secrets of my journey.
Cya!
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