Unlike my easy day yesterday, today was a full day of traveling through the Sacred Valley which is basically the area between Cusco and Machu Picchu.

The tour I took was with Machu Picchu Reservations and the tour, which took 12 hours, was only $25USD.

I went to bed last night at a fairly decent time of 9:45 and was up with my alarm bright and early at 6am this morning.

Just enough time to get ready and head out the door to get to the 6:45 meeting point about 10 minutes away.

By 7:00 we were all loaded on the bus and on our way…

The People

So, for me, next to the amazing visuals of all the different sites we went to today, meeting my fellow travelers was just as exciting.

The guy in the photo up there was our tour guide.   I can’t even remember what his real name was because he just insisted we all called him Papa Chula so that’s what we did.

He spoke in pretty good English the whole tour and was nice little guy with a great smile.

As for the people I was being bussed around with, there were 17 of us total and I got to know a handful of them as we chatted on the bus as we went from one destination to another.

For the most part we talked about our time here in Peru but also about previous places we’ve visited and what it was like to travel to different parts of the world.

It’s great to be surrounded by fellow travelers because, honestly, traveling and seeking adventures are such big passions for me that it’s cool to share that passion with others.

Anyway, like I said, meeting them all was definately a highlight of the trip for me and I’m hoping future excursions I go on have the same mix of cool people in them.

Crafts in Chinchero

By 7:45 we arrived at our first stop of the day in Chinchero.

Here was the token visit to a gift shop where they do a little demo and then invite you to peruse things to buy.

It was a pretty cool demonstration actually as the woman showed us how to color alpaca fur into different colors using various fruits and berries.

The store itself was chalk full of all sorts of things derived from the alpaca fur.

Very colorful indeed but I wouldn’t be buying anything today.

Colonial Church

By 8:30 we were back on our bus to the nearby Colonial Church.

The church itself is situated on a vast landscape overlooking a valley and there’s a huge area outside with crosses, Peruvian flags, and rainbow flags.

Now, I had seen rainbow flags a few times in town and had thought “huh, how progressive of Peru” but now seeing them at a religious site made me really confused.

I mean, that’s really progressive!   The church is all about gay pride apparently!

Well, turns out the rainbow flag is meant to literally depict a rainbow and fertility and it’s been the city of Cusco’s flag for a long time.

So, there you go, interesting little tidbit.

It was at this point where layers started to come off.

I had started the day in pants, a tshirt, a sweater and a jacket.   Time to loose that jacket!

Salineras Salt Mines

At 9:30 we were back on the bus heading 40 minutes to our next stop, the Salineras Salt Mines.

I had previously toured the Wieliczka Salt Mine in Krakow so I was curious to see this one here in Peru.

It was a different setup from what I had previously seen but that’s not to see it didn’t alot of “ooooo’s and ahhhhh’s” when we saw it for the first time from the road coming down the mountain toward the entrance.

There are over 5000 pools of salt all from a little stream created from a natural nearby spring.

Considering each of those pools can produce 150kg of salt, the sheer amount of volume this salt mine can create in a year is simply mind boggling.

After walking around for a while snapping photos and buying the obligatory little packet of salt as a souvenir, we were on our way to the next stop.

Moray Circular Terraces

We arrived in the town of Moray at just after 11am to visit the Moray Circular Terraces.

I don’t know, there’s just something about seeing terraces carved out in the landscape that just looks so beautiful.

I had the same sense of awe and wonderment when I visited the rice terraces in the northern Philippines a few years back.

Apparently, these terraces used to used for agriculture growing things like corn and potatoes.

During the rainy season from September to March each year, the crops would be plentiful.

I also learned that because of the altitude here in Cusco that many more types of corn and potatoes are able to grow here.

There are actually 200 different types of corn and over 4000 types of potatoes which, when you think about it, kind of blows your mind.

Oh, and the sun was out on full display now.   Time to take off another layer.

Lunch

At just after noon we finally stopped for lunch in a nearby town.

The lunch was included with the tour and it was a buffet style lunch with trays of steak, chicken, beef stew, pasta, veggies, quinoa, and rice.

I gotta say, it was a pretty decent compared to some of the “free included” lunches I’ve seen on previous tours.

Again, the conversation flowed about different places we’ve gone on.   Before you knew it, it was time to get back on the bus.

There was more to see…

Sacred Valley of the Incas

We arrived in the city of Ollantaytambo which is actually where I transferred from the bus to the train when I went to Machu Picchu the other day.

This was more of a city than the other towns we had visited today.

There were alot more people there, that’s for sure.

I should also mention that every stop we went to today there were at least a dozen other minibuses parked with other tours.

Apparently the Sacred Valley tour is kinda popular.

Anyway, we walked past all the touristy shops to the entrance of the archaeological site.   More terraces but also some cool stone buildings at the bottom of it all.

I gave up climbing to the top about two levels in and decided to spend more of my time exploring the cool little structures down below.

I mean, I’m not in the best of shape as it is but, man, add the high altitude into the mix and I’m huffing and puffing after climbing stairs for a bit.

After an hour in Ollantaytambo we were off to our final stop of the tour.

Old city of Pisac

The next stop in the town of Pisac was almost an hour and a half away.

Of course, by now, the conversation had been replaced by all us tired souls closing our eyes for the long trip to the next stop.

At 4:15 we finally arrived to the ruins of the old city of Pisac.

We were forewarned to put on a jacket and wear a hat as it was cold and windy and, man, they were not kidding.

It was so damn cold there that I wish I had brought my toque (beanie for you non-Canadians) with me to cover up my poor little ears.

We climbed to the very top and the wind was blasting.   I actually had pretty sore ears by the time we got back to the bus and popped an aspirin to combat an onsetting headache I was getting.

Oh, and the site itself?   Yeah, another marvel.   Like literally so beautiful.

Just too damn windy!

I know, I know, first world problems right?!?

After another hour drive we were finally back in town about 12 hours after we had left.

Now, that was a long day but it was so worth it.

I got to see some amazing things and when you truly think about it, the world is a pretty amazing place.

Tomorrow I’ll get to be amazed some more as I’m touring the Rainbow Mountain which is exactly as it sounds.   Can’t wait!