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| High up in the Andes! |
Our second full day in Urubamba is coming to a close. The days actually come to a close pretty early over here. At this time of year the sun is setting in this area around 5:30 PM. Sunrise is around 6:00 AM so the daylight hours are still fairly long, especially since we are early risers.
Hopefully without jinxing ourselves, I think it's fair to say that we're not going to have any issues with altitude sickness. We didn't take any of the over the counter or prescription medications that are available. We just made sure we stayed hydrated, avoided all alcohol and took it easy for the first twenty four hours. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as to who has issues. Obviously we're very thankful that we were spared. I had some problems one time in Colorado and it wasn't fun.
Today we hired a local driver to show us some of the recommended sites in the area. When our driver showed up we were pleasantly surprised. It was none other than Luis who had driven us from the Cusco Airport two days ago. He seemed to remember us or at least he faked it well and we knew we were in good hands.
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| Me and my buddy Luis |
Our first destination was about a forty minute very scenic drive to the Moray Ruins. The area looks very similar to a massive amphitheater. The date of the original building of the terraces and their actual purpose is unclear. It's safe to say it dates back more than a thousand years and was built by the Incan tribes. It's purpose is believed to be agricultural related and it is often referred to as the "Worlds First Agricultural Experiment Station". It is believed that the construction was intentional to maximize the differences in sunshine, wind and temperature at the different levels. The temperature can vary close to 60 degrees from the top terrace to the bottom. This allowed the Incas to test grow their crops under different conditions. During the Incan empire there were over 3,000 varieties of potatoes and 150 types of corn documented.............sounds like they were leading the pack when it came to early agricultural development.
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| The Moray Ruins aka "The Worlds First Agricultural Experimental Station" |
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| Sharing the Road! |
From Moray we headed to Chinchero, a small village just off the main road between Cusco and Urubamba. Chinchero is famous for it's woven textiles, a lively market, Incan ruins, a colonial church built by the Spanish in 1607 and claims to be the "birthplace of the rainbow". There were no rainbows today, only clear blue skies, but we did enjoy taking in the rest of the sites. As we were walking around we both felt like we were working a little harder than we had been yesterday and earlier in the day. It was only after we left that we found we had climbed several thousand more feet. Chinchero's elevation is 12,342 feet. No wonder it felt like we were pushing a piano around the village!
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| Weaving her goods in the market |
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| Lots of woven goods as well as fresh fruits and vegetables in the Chinchero Market |
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| Chinchero |
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| Catching up on all the local news in the Chinchero Plaza area |
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| The church was built by the Spanish in 1607. The walls were built by the Inca long before then! |
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| View from the church across the plaza to the Andes Mountains |
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Sunday afternoon stroll
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Our last stop was the Salt Ponds of Maras (also known as Salineras). Like Moray, the ingenuity of the Incan people was on display here. Highly salty water flows down and through tiny channels that direct the water into thousands of small ponds. The water slowly evaporates leaving behind salt that is used for many purposes including cooking, curing meat and for medicinal purposes.
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| The Salt Ponds of Maras |
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| From the top level looking down |
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| A salty looking couple! |
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| This guy really does work in the salt mines! |
It was a fascinating day learning more about the history and culture of the Sacred Valley,
and to think we haven't even made it to Machu Picchu yet!
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| Overlooking Urubamba |
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| Sharing the road...........again! |
