Cusco - The Sacred Valley

So-called because the dry steep slopes  of the surrounding mountains look over a flat river valley extra green and abundant with crops, alongside the Vilcanota River flowing fast and muddy-brown…

 

The limited time we had in Cusco before our trek meant we succumbed to a tour of the Valley in a bus with a lot of other camera-toting people, but find a spot not surrounded by tourists and the sites could still be magical. 

 

 

Here is where the Incas consolidated their expanding empire, four roads leading out of their central city of Cusco into their conquered lands.  Here also is where the Spaniards found treasure beyond the dreams, and plenty of Inca towns and temples to pillage for their own buildings.   Here in this Valley is where the Incas desperately fought to rid their lands of the Hispanic menace, several fierce battles and smart tactics so nearly succeeding…. Before finally they melted away to their last stronghold over the mountains and into the thick Amazon jungle, routed once and for all and disappearing along with their knowledge of earthquake-proof building, medicines, plants, record-keeping and astronomy that the Spaniards could have made so much use of if they had wanted to and not just invade and overtake.

 

So today the sites you see are ruins ruined by the invaders and by time, and yet still as entrancing as if you were the first to discover them after 300-odd years hidden under jungle overgrowth…

 

 

Saqsaywaman, on the outskirts of Cusco, from where you can see the main plaza, and imagine the Incas looking down from here at their invaders, desperately holding on to their zig-zagged terraced fortress, fighting against a small number of very determined Spaniards, and eventually losing to their tenacity and persistence, and retreating further down the valley..

 

 

Pisac, high on a hill surrounded by terraces for agriculture and overlooking the river valley.  An astronomy outlook at the top of the hill and stones so finely placed together without mortar that you can hardly work out where one stops and the other begins.

 

 

Ollantaytambo, where the Incas flooded the valley to thwart the horseback-riding Spaniards, but also where the second battle went in the latters´ favour.  Here more terraces and also niches in temple walls for idols and statues, long gone now.

 

Chinchero, 4200m up, where dying and weaving using plants and parasites from prickly pear cactus leaves create beautiful textiles, and the same methods are unchanged.

 

And finally back to Cusco, colonial architecture mixed with Inca ruins and modern comforts. Small cobbled streets, steep hills and definitely rests to take in the view and to deal with the 3200 odd metres above sea level!

Into the sacred site of Qoricancha, a temple so well constructed it hasn´t shifted in the earthquakes that have toppled the colonial churches several times.  The walls for the special places were made with such care and each stone polished to perfection, that they fit like lego bricks, and stick fast like them too.  Sometimes it´s hard to even see the joins…