• Peru, Bolivia & Easter Island
    At the Parwa Cultural Centre
    Guinea pigsPeru is the birthplace of the potato and they have more than 4,000 varietiesOne of the educators at the centreA street in ChincheroCesar tells Brad about the Spanish takeover of this Inca siteChurch of Senora de MonserratThese Inca built walls use no mortarStepsThe ruinsThe ruins of Túpac Yupanqui palace and Spanish buildingsThe Incas used these terraces as agricultural labsThe Sacred ValleyThe Sacred ValleyAt the bottom of OllantaytamboLooking down, but still not at the topBuildings on the side of the mountain😲Almost at the topWoohoo! Made it to the SunTemple2These capsules on the side of the mountain are hotel rooms for mountain climbers

    The Sacred Valley, Peru

    February 11 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    What. A. Day. It was our first day delving more deeply into Inca culture and history and it did not disappoint. It was the perfect precursor to our eventual trip to Machu Picchu.

    Our driver Juan and guide Cesar picked us up at 8 a.m and our first stop was to the Parwa Cultural Centre to feed some alpacas and Guinea pigs and learn about traditional ways alpaca wool is washed, dyed and woven. This facility was a collective of five families.

    The methods and materials that are used in the dyes are fascinating - different seeds and herbs and even insects. In fact, the Peruvian shades of red are all from a bug found in cactus! It was fascinating.

    From there, we visited a town called Chinchero. It’s an ancient Inca town and includes ruins of the Tupac Yupanqui Inca palace and a Spanish church from 1607. The church is being restored.

    Next, we visited Moray, which the Incas used as a sort of agricultural lab with different micro climates at each terrace level.

    Our final stop was Ollantayambo, an ancient military, religious and agricultural centre from the mid 15th century. It’s strategically located on a mountain and demonstrates original Inca urban design. We successfully climbed up to the top despite the altitude. (Brad and I have been taken aback by how winded we get climbing stairs in these altitudes.)

    You can read more about the Sacred Valley here:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Valley

    It was a long and exhausting day, so we had a quiet night.    Read more