Peruvian Adventure Series 4 of 9 – Day Five 5/15/2008 Pisac Market & Ollantaytambo {Travel}

Welcome to Travel Tuesday! Today I’m going to walk you through Day Five – Pisac Market & Ollantaytambo. This is a nine part series of my excursion to Peru. If you haven’t read the Travel Tuesday entries please take the time to check it out.

Just a quick recap:

Sunday, May 11, 2008 Day 1 - Flying from LAX to Lima, Peru

Monday, May 12 2008 Day 2 – Sightseeing in Lima

Tuesday, May 13, 2008 Day 3 - Flying from Lima to Cusco

Wednesday, May 14, 2008 Day 4 – Traveling by train to Machu Picchu

Thursday, May 15, 2008 Day 5 – Tour Pisac Market & Ollantaytambo

Friday, May 16, 2008 Day 6 – Tour City & Ruins Tour

Saturday, May 17, 2008 Day 7 -Flying to Puerto Maldonado, boat ride to Posada Amazonas

Sunday, May 18, 2008 Day 8 – Tour Tres Chimbadas Lake

Monday, May 19, 2008 Day 9 – Walking tour to the Clay Lick

Tuesday, May 20, 2008 Day 10 – Airfare One Way Puerto Maldonado to Lima then Lima to LAX

In this blog entry I’m going to walk you through my day 5 in Peru at Pisac Market and Ollantaytambo. Let’s begin.

Thursday, May 15, 2008 Day 5 – Tour Pisac Market & Ollantaytambo

My day started at 8:30 am traveling through the a scenic landscape to the Urubamba Valley, the “Sacred Valley of the Incas”. Before we arrive at the town of Pisac we make a quick stop at Awana Kancha. At Awana Kancha I got to see all 4 camelids: Alpaca, Llama, Guanaco and the famed Vicuna with its super-fine wool.

Awana Kancha

We were given a short presentation about two brothers who created the idea of Awana Kancha (translated: Palace of the Master Weaver) back in 1989. They informed us of the history of the animals and their importance as a source of food and clothing in Pre-Columbian culture and the current peoples of Peru.

Awana Kancha

We also were allowed to feed the adult llamas and alpacas some fresh alfalfa (their main food staple).

Awana Kancha

How fun that was!

After the feeding frenzy, we were escorted to the gift shop where some of the finest baby alpaca and vicuna garments in Peru were available for purchase.

Everything from sweaters, to table runners, to slippers, to hats, scarves and socks were at the ready and each with their own patterns- indicating the village they were from.

Finally, we were handed several baby bottles filled with milk and allowed us to feed the baby alpacas. Trust me when I tell you….you’ve never seen anything cuter than a baby alpaca!

Young lady was giving us an example of weaving.

The staff could tell you all about every pattern and which village it came from. Really a great place to visit!

Below the cooking pots where they dye the llama fur.

Locals are dressed in their traditional clothing.

Next we travel to the vista of the “Sacred Valley” which has a popular market which retains much of its local charm, at least in the part where villagers from miles around gather to barter and sell their produce. In the tourist section of the market you can buy a wide variety of handicrafts – mostly the same things you see in Cusco. Many of the guide books state that handicrafts are cheaper than Cusco but in recent years much difference in price. My advice is if you like something in Cusco, buy it! And likewise in Pisac. Don’t wait around hoping you’ll find it a few dollars cheaper elsewhere. Pisac is a good place to buy the local ceramics including a huge and varied collection of hand-painted multi-colored beads.

Once we stopped at the market I was so busy buying presents for my family and friends I almost did notice this little girl sitting surrounded by her native blankets. Her eyes were big and brown.

After the Pisac market we traveled to Ollantaytambo. Ollantaytambo is an attractive little town located at the western end of the Sacred Valley (about two and a half hours by bus from Cusco). The town has been built on top of original Inca foundations and is the best surviving example of Inca town planning. The town is divided in canchas (blocks) which are almost entirely intact. Each cancha has only one entrance (usually a huge stone doorway) which leads into a central courtyard. The houses surround the courtyard. Good examples of this construction can be found behind the main plaza.

The town is located at the foot of some spectacular Inca ruins (entrance with the Tourist Ticket ‘Boleto Turistico’) which protected the strategic entrance to the lower Urubamba Valley. The temple area is at the top of steep terracing which helped to provide excellent defenses. Stone used for these buildings was brought from a quarry high up on the opposite side of the Urubamba River – an incredible feat involving the efforts of thousands of workers. The complex was still under construction at the time of the conquest and was never completed.

After Manco Inca was defeated by the Spanish at Sacsayhuaman following the unsuccessful siege of Cusco (1536) he retreated to Ollantaytambo. Francisco Pizarro’s younger brother Hernando led a force of 70 cavalry, 30 foot soldiers and a large contingent of natives to capture Manco Inca. The Inca’s forces, joined by neighboring jungle tribes, rained down showers of arrows, spears and rocks upon the unfortunate Spanish troops. In an intelligent move the Inca’s flooded the plains below their stronghold making it difficult for the horses to maneuver. Hernando, uncharacteristically, ordered a hasty retreat. Ollantaytambo became the only place ever to have resisted attacks from the Spanish.

However, their victory was short-lived when the Spanish returned with four times their previous force. Manco Inca retreated to his jungle stronghold in Vilcabamba and Ollantaytambo fell into the hands of the Spanish.

The valleys of the Urubamba and Patakancha rivers along Ollantaytambo are covered by an extensive set of agricultural terraces which start at the bottom of the valleys and climb up the surrounding hills. The terraces permitted farming on otherwise unusable terrain; they also allowed the Incas to take advantage of the different ecological zones created by variations in altitude.Terraces at Ollantaytambo were built to a higher standard than common Inca agricultural terraces, for instance, they have higher walls made of cut stones instead of rough fieldstones. This type of high-prestige terracing is also found in other Inca royal estates such as Chinchero, Pisaq, and Yucay.

A set of sunken terraces start south of Ollantaytambo’s Plaza de Armas, stretching all the way to the Urubamba River. They are about 700 meters long, 60 meters wide and up to 15 meters below the level of surrounding terraces; due to their shape they are called Callejón, the Spanish word for alley. Land inside Callejón is protected from the wind by lateral walls which also absorb solar radiation during the day and release it during the night; this creates a microclimate zone 2 to 3°C warmer than the ground above it. These conditions allowed the Incas to grow species of plants native to lower altitudes that otherwise could not have flourished at this site.

The Incas built several storehouses out of fieldstones on the hills surrounding Ollantaytambo. Their location at high altitudes, where there is more wind and temperatures are lower defended their contents against decay. To enhance this effect, the Ollantaytambo qollqas feature ventilation systems. It is believed that they were used to store the production of the agricultural terraces built around the site.Grain would be poured in the windows on the uphill side of each building, then emptied out through the downhill side window

Below was my bus mate Jeanne Bille. She was great company and we both took our time climbing up and down these huge stairs. She watched my back and I watched hers. She has a huge knowledge for metal. She told me the braclets I was trying to buy in Pisac were Serpentine.

Below is the “Bath of the princess”

This concludes Day 5 visiting Awana Kancha, ”Sacred Valley of the Incas”, shopping at the Pisac Market and tour of the Ollantaytambo Ruins. Tomorrow is the Cusco City and the Ruins Tour. So please come back and read all about it next week.