The Pisac Market and Ollantaytambo Runis in the Scared Valley

Today we were heading out to spend the day in the Scared Valley. It’s about an hour and half long journey by car. We were on a small tour bus when a rather large German man walked over to a woman and made her change seats so he could stretch out his legs, I guess every country has their share of assholes. We passed this on the way out of town, however I’m not sure its significance.


Along the way we stopped by a roadside market. Actually, I think this was more of a tourist thing and a way for them to squeeze a few extra Sol(s) out of our wallets. I did not buy anything but still enjoyed the views.


Inside, rows of clothes and trinkets.




A sheep farmer ran his herd through while we were there, perhaps giving the merchants a peek at his wool.




After a chance to stretch our legs we were off again.


In no time at all we came to the Sacred Valley and started our decent.




Making a stop about half way to capture some photos.








Our first stop was the Pisac Market where locals still trade goods and foods with each other. This market is only open on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays.






Right next to it is a “tourist” market, which of course is open every day. While there are hundreds of stalls of merchants selling all kinds of things they seemed to act as a single collective. It appeared that they all bought from a single warehouse and all shared in the profits. It was not uncommon to see one merchant sell something and not have any change to give out, so he simply walked over to another merchant and used their money. It looked like they had alot of brand name clothes but upon closer examination there was usually either a letter missing on an extra one inserted.






I was looking for something a bit more authentic so I ventured out in to the town, and with a bit of luck was hoping to find a (W)ash (C)loset that did not require you to pay the guy outside to let you in. As I left you could see the rows of umbrellas from the merchants.


Average street in the town. About a block over I found a guy playing a didgeridoo but it seemed out of place, even though he was quite good.


Local beggar, smelled like he had put away his share of Pisco Sours for the next two weeks.


I reached the edge of the town so I had to turn around and head back to the market. I searched my pockets for one of those two colored coins that would let me use the restroom.


We grabbed lunch, and yes again I got that feeling afterwards. On the ride in to the place where we ate both Ben and I spotted something that grabbed our interest and stared walking in its direction. It’s not well known, but Peru actually has hundreds of micro-breweries, all called, Chicha. This is an ancient Inca beverage fermented from maize that people brew right out of their house. They advertise the fact that they are selling Chicha by hanging out a red flag.


The foyer could use a bit of cleaning and was in bad need of a mosquito and fly dusting.


Around the corner was the entry to the scariest brewery / home, heck, scariest place I have even seen.


It was a single room, dark, damp, and flies all over. The brewmaster was sitting in the corner. I said “Chicha” and she opened that pot showing me her seasonal brew and went for one of many well used glasses.


I heard some strange squeaking sounds from the other side of the room and turned around. Under her bed were about 20 to 30 Guinea Pigs running around. I think I once saw something like this in a movie that did not have a happy ending.


I quickly gave her a few Sol(s) and got out of there before she could place a curse on me. This is probably a good time to suggest that if you are traveling to South America it’s not a bad idea to see your doctor to ensure you are up to date on your immunizations and have them prescribe something like Levaquin, for diarrhea. We walked back to our bus and left for Ollantaytambo. I was trying to remember how much soap the hotel provided us with and if that was going to be enough. Ollantaytambo is a fortress to protect against invaders, or at least make it difficult for them to pass.








Awesome, more steps to practice for the Inca trail on. And oh yes, once we reached the top we got to come back down again.








Early version of pluming to get running water.


Once back down we headed off to our final destination before returning to Cusco. This was the village of Chinchero.




Here we would find real weavers making real products, actually creating yearn from wool and using minerals to color it. The only problem was that they knew what they had and they were charging real prices.




We made our way through the village up to the church.




I’m not at all religious when it comes to Jesus, but rather believe in the collective energy that is Mother Earth, and up here in the mountains something was going on no matter what your beliefs were.


We entered the church, which of course, did not allow any photography. This place was really amazing. Huge beautify paintings, not only a huge gold alter in the front, but also secondary ones on each side. The Pre-Inca and Inca very much believe in nature and Mother Earth. When the Spanish invaded they needed a way to draw the Inca over to the Jesus tale. What better way to do that then to build unbelievable churches. We saw the first of many subtle changes to the Jesus tale in that this church did not have a white Jesus but one colored as the Incas. It was truly an amazing site. We returned to Cusco and opted for a nice diner at the Inca Grill which was very tasty and had a great wine selection. That was just the start of the evening. I brought along my video camera that night so I could later remember the events, here is the short version. We headed down an alley in search of a bar Ben had heard about, five steps down the alley and we were offered weed not once but twice from two different people. Our first stop was Los Perros, a nice bar / lounge complete with puppies running around. After two beers we headed next store that advertised live music. The place was dead and the band only seemed to play half a song before starting the next. However, I got excited when I saw a large refrigerator labeled with “Cristal”, but when they opened it, it was filled with Cusquena, so we had one and left, heading down the alley. We walked past a stairway going down that was thumping with music and found a friendly bartender who’s head was literally humming he was so high. This guy was flying all over the place but the music was good, so we signed their flag and had a few beers watching the entertainment. We left and headed down the alley when someone grabbed me and took us to their club. This place was great, good vibe and awesome live reggae music, so we hung out for a bit. After a while we headed out and found ourselves in your typical dance club, both Ben and I went to the bar to buy beers for each other without knowing the other one was doing the same, so we ended up with four beers. Once they were finished to moved on and found an Irish pub, complete with a drunk Irish guy. After some conversation just to hear him talk we moved on to our final destination, another typical dance club. And that’s a good place to call it a night.