THE SACRED VALLEY

La VALLE SAGRADO ...
High altitude Andean villages, breathtaking countryside changing colour from one place to the next, from greens to yellows, to browns ...

The Rio Urubamba, loads of indigenous people in traditional dress (which changes from one pueblo to the next), always accompanied by their animals, cows, sheep, llamas, alpaca, pigs and of course man's best friend...the dog.

First stop-PISAQ -
We skipped the ruins at this site and preferred going to the supposedly crazy sunday market. It is a colonial village which greets indigenous people from surrounding pueblos selling their things (all the same from one stand to the next) in chaotic colourful stalls - ceramics, textiles, jewelry, pottery, old coins ....

I have so many pictures of women's braids...it's become an obsession. Here are a few of the pIsaq ladies ... (most always from the back because I'm too shy to take them from the front) -

And Brel finally got his zampoñias at this market. He had waited so long!!!! They came with a little sheet and notes and all by himself he figured out how to play EL CONDOR PASA. Now he really confuses the other turistas who think he's a local boy ...

We ran into a really nice guy who was willing to show him how to blow into the instrument -

And some real local children. Really beautiful. Too bad that they are always attacking us to sell something.

And this group was irresistible. I had to take this picture. Check them out. Their facial expressions, the colours.....

On the way to MORAI-

MORAY -
Amphitheatre-like terraces used by the Incas as an agricultural laboratory. Parts have been replanted with various crops. Everything is circular and everything is deep. There is a special energy there. I felt it. I cried. Ok maybe it was PMSing but I was emotional none the less...

That's Brel in the middle... connecting with himself...

SALINAS (MARAS) -
MY FAVOURITE SIGHT (ok, ok, with Machu Picchu). This place was a complete surprise. I have never seen anything like it before. Thousands of saltpans that have been harvested since Inca times. Really, really crazy!

OLLAYTAYTAMBO
is supposed to be the best surviving ex of Inca city planning AND its narrow cobblestone streets have been continuously inhabited for over 700 years. You really feel like you have gone back in time when you arrive here. Wish I spent more time amidst the snow capped mountains, the water that seemed to flow everywhere (small Inca passages of H20 in the middle of the street- and what a nice sound...the sound of water constantly flowing...ENERGIZING). And the people- men and women and the most colourful "costumes" seen so far...shades of pink, reds, oranges and these flat hats with a rim (so it becomes like a little bowl on their heads) in which they deposit fresh flowers....I mean really, why don't we dress like that??? There would be more beauty, more poetry... And the men are as dressed up as the women and in the same shades. Soooo exquisite!!! Sorry, no pictures.

And lots more pictures but no time to download more.

That's all for now folks!
We miss you
xo