the sacred valley and machu picchu

the sacred valley is sacred not for religious reasons but because of it's unique climate and microclimates that make it ideal for food production (or so i was told by a seemingly knowledgable guide).  sacred or not, it is undeniably beautiful.  the valley follows the rio urubamba up into the mountains that contain machu picchu.

from pisac we traveled to ollantaytambo.  this turned out to be quite a charming little town with cobblestone streets and which was built upon the remains of inca ruins.

wandering through the narrow streets of current homes whose foundations are obviously inca stonework.   we were also enthralled by the ancient stone water canals running down the streets.

we stumbled upon this home with old inca walls still in use as an alter.....how many hundreds of years have people been praying here?

we stayed at a hostel a little outside of town that was set on the banks of a small river.  the garden and the sound of the gurgling water was super relaxing! we stayed here a couple nights which was very nice....not to mention the first hot shower we'd had in over a week!

on the hills in the backdrop of the town are the remains of an inca fortress and terraces.

at the top of which is an impressive collection of stone work and the unfinished temple of the sun (the spanish invaded the region before it was complete, so the incas had to stop construction and fight them).  you can just make out the shadow of the pachamama (earth mother) symbol in the stone.  most evidence of inca gods was destroyed by the spanish when they conquered the incas.

ollantaytambo is also where we hopped the train to machu picchu pueblo (also known as aquas calientes).....which is the town that serves as the gateway to machu picchu.
from our hostel we took a tuk-tuk (they are actually called moto-taxi's here but todd will forever call them tuk-tuks as they are in thailand). lucy was sooooooo excited to take a tuk-tuk!

then we boarded the train (which is basically the only way to get there)

on arrival the first thing we noticed is that the vegetation had changed and was almost sub-topical.....very different from the lower valley.  machu picchu pueblo is a town completed devoted to the masses en route to machu picchu.  for the first time in our travels we saw lots of other families traveling with children....not to mention the very nicely dressed tourists so different from the young backpackers we were used to seeing.

the next morning we got up very early as the buses up to machu picchu start running at 5:30am.  despite having seen many many pictures of machu picchu (and i'm gonna post another one here!) you would have to be pretty jaded not to feel a sense of awe upon seeing it.....so amazing!!

 todd, ever the colorado boy, always needs to get to the top of whatever and so we had bought the additional tickets required to climb machu picchu mountain.  after poking around the ruins for a couple hours we headed up the mountain.  it ended up being a very strenuous nearly 2 hr climb of stairs! thankfully we have been living at elevation for over a month and did a fair bit of hiking while staying at arcadio's farm or it could have been worse!

starting up the stairs!

riley taking a break on the way up

at first lucy didn't think she could make it all the way so the boys went on ahead. but then she got it in her head that she wanted to see the top and with dogged determination (she was even cheering me on at the end!) we made it to the top!!  the look on todd's face as she was coming up the last bit as they were headed down was such sweet reward for her!!
i usually curse my mountain goat of a husband on the way up but always once i get to the top i appreciate having been convinced to do the trek.  this was no exception as we were rewarded with a rare bird's eye view of machu picchu!

at the top!! see little machu picchu in the background!

coming down....somehow more painful than up as i get older!

after coming down the mountain we spent another few hours walking around and then finally headed back down on the bus to town.  the kids were awe-struck and remarked that machu picchu was the most amazing thing they had ever seen (us too!)

that is machu picchu mountain behind us....hard to believe we climbed to the top!!

the next morning we took the train back to ollantaytambo and then a bus onto to cusco.  we stayed in cusco for a couple days visiting museums and just wandering the streets.

cusco is really quite a large city and retains its inca capital feel

todd loves all the different traditional hats and spends a lot of time stalking women and little girls.....

on the last day i hiked up to some ruins just above cusco called sacsayhuaman (todd and the kids were ruined out so they stayed home). certainly not as impressive as machu picchu but interesting in that the huge walls were built in a zig zag formation (there is debate as to why).  and also on the backside of the ruins are these natural slide polished smooth from countless sliding bums.  i of course had to slide....when in cusco, do as the incas do!

the zig and the zag

chairs carved into the stone

weeeeeeeeee!!!!!!

our two weeks in the sacred valley has been divine, but it is time to move on.  our next stop is another volunteer stay.  we aren't going far as this is still in the andes just a few hours from cusco.  we will be helping at a school for disabled children.  additionally there is a daycare for toddlers and riley and lucy are excited to help play with some kids!
hasta luego!!