The Sacred Valley
Say what you like about the Incas, but they certainly seemed to be masochists! The Sacred Valley is, as you’d imagine, a valley. Steep, barren mountain sides (these are the Andes after all) with lower flat areas in between with rivers and fertile soil. Given the choice where would you establish a village? The flat area perhaps? Seems the sensible option. Not for the Incas. Oh no, they decide to build their cities on the mountain sides, creating terraces then bringing soil from who-knows-where to make fields which require complex irrigation systems to keep them watered (but not too watered). Why???? There’s got to be a reason but I can’t see it. Maybe defence – I think the towns we went to were established quite late in the day and the empire was crumbling. But I’ve really got no idea so I revert back to my original hypothesis that they were masochists – revelling in the pain and effort of building and maintaining settlements in the most barren of places while overlooking prime real estate.
(sacred valley with colonial Pisac in valley bottom and Incan Pisac on mountainsides (not visible))
I’ll state at the outset that I can’t tell you much about the settlements I saw. The guide was very good at telling us about the building construction, but details of why they were built and the people who lived in them was severely lacking. So you’ll get to see some photos but the history behind them is not something I can competently write about.
We went to three sites: Pisac, Ollantaytambo and Chinchero. Pisac was the hardest site as it was right up a mountainside and involved a bit of a hike (about half an hour or so) to the ‘city centre’ following part of the Inca Trail. Ollantaytambo was closer to the valley bottom but the Incan ruins largely comprised of terraces which went up the mountainside. Chinchero was the highest site, at an altitude of 3,760 m. I’m emphasising the locations because of the physical effort that was required to explore them. It was an exhausting day, walking around the Andes. By the time we got to Chinchero, our last stop, I’d had enough and barely saw anything as I was too exhausted to explore.
Anyway, on with the tour. . . As I said, the ruins of Pisac were reached by following part of the Inca Trail. The route was precarious at times, with almost sheer drops to the valley bottom.
The hike was worth it, though. The site was mainly religious but due to the close ties between religion and politics, also had political value. All the clichés about ‘stones so closely fitted that you can’t get a blade between them’ are true. The stonework was as clean and fresh as when it was put together, over 500 years ago. The buildings were roofless but the supports for roof beams were visible in many.
The site was incredible but I didn’t really get a sense of what it was like in its heyday. Did people live there or was it just a business area? Was it open to everyone or just the elite? When was it built and when was it abandoned? I have no idea but would love to know.
I staggered back to the bus and we drove into the town where I bought one present before heading to the bus for a doze. We went for lunch then headed to Ollantaytambo. We had to drive through the modern town to reach the Incan ruins and the sight of them made my jaw drop and my legs quiver! There, on the mountainside, were a series of terraces each at least 6 foot high. There were tourists all over them and I thought to myself, there’s no way I’m going to make it up there. I was practically gasping for breath just walking on flat ground!
Well, as you can tell from the picture I struggled up. I figured, ‘I’ve paid for this and don’t know when I’ll be back. I’m not going to let a little altitude sickness and a stinky little cold get the better of me’. It was incredible. All the ruins I saw were. But not once did I get any sense of the people who built the terraces and houses and temples, nor any idea of why they chose the locations they did. Why go to so much effort to build the retaining terraces I was walking on, why not just build farther away from the mountainside? The valley was massive, it’s not like they were constrained for space.
With more questions than answers we left Ollantaytambo and drove to Chincheros. This was our final, and highest, stop. Dusk was falling and we had a walk up a cobbled street to reach the town square. The square was used as a market and I bought a couple of pairs of earrings from the nearest stall before slowly heading downhill. The cobbles were slippery, it was getting dark and there was a definite chill in the air. I bought some corn on the cob to warm myself up. It was local corn and the cobs were much bigger than the corn I’m used to. It was quite floury but tasty and really hit the spot.
We reach Cusco in the dark at the end of a long and exhausting day. It had been a good day. The sites had been amazing. The skill involved in constructing them, the manpower required to bring the stone blocks from the quarry to the building sites without the use of pack animals or the wheel, the logistics and organisation, the motivation requires was all staggering. The only problem was, as I’ve already said, the lack of any explanation whatsoever from my guide. I’m as in the dark about Incan history now as I was before I went which is a real shame. 
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