Arriving in the Sacred Valley

We left Cusco on a local bus, to head up the hills out of town, and drop down into the Sacred Valley.  The tall mountains are extremely lush and green, even though this rainy season is unusually dry... as the weather is changing in Lima, Puno, Denmark, we learn in many conversations.

Pisac is a small town known for its market.  Apparently, the Pisac market is the second-most visited tourist attraction in Peru!  We are so thankful we are visiting during the low season!  The market fills the Plaza de Armas, and spreads out into the surrounding streets.  We find one of the traditional ovens in which people bake empañadas, and also a chicheria on the outskirts of town.  The man of the family puts Wade next to him in a seat of honor, and proceeds to explain the process of making chicha.  We wish our Spanish was good enough to understand... We toast often, ¨¨salud¨¨ - health- and also teach the family ´cheers´´.

Yesterday we hiked to the ruins above Pisac, about a two hour hike passing an amazing waterfall, one of those days that starts cool, then is hot and sunny, later cool and raining, then hot... The ruins are vast, and amazing, with many parts that were residential, ceremonial, military, agricultural... there are still stone baths with running water that was channeled from above, and somehow the Incans made a tunnel through the mountain. 

We caught a cab down the mountain, and learned Peru was playing Argentina in a soccer tournament.  We caught part of the game, and were offered a ¨¨typical Peruvian drink¨¨, which seems to have been an alcohol made of sugar mixed with orange soda.  ¨¨it´s totaly natural¨¨ we are told, which is what the man told us also the other night about the chicha...

Today we had the privilige of meeting Ana, a friend of a friend who is Peruvian and has lived in the Sacred Valley 20 years. She and her husband set up the first hostal in the valley, and helped cut through the jungle to make the popular for tourists Inca Trail.  Sometimes she regrets this. That is how it is here, she says, the government has no money for conservation and the people do not think about the earth.  The eucalyptus trees have been imported, they are ubiquitous, and cause erosion.  She has run campaigns to save the ancient pisonay tree in Pisac´s square, and now is creating a healing center for women, where she and her partners will also work to help her local community´s alcoholics.  We have to work together, she says.  Ana, too, knows Kia, she used to teach English to the children at the orphanage.  We will soon know Kia as well... our next journey is to Casa de Milagros, a short bus and taxi trip away!