Pisac, Sacred Valley, Peru

Diane: While in Cusco, we had stumbled upon Ana, our German friend who was studying Spanish in Cuenca when we arrived. She had broken up with her boyfriend from Germany, before embarking on her trip around Ecuador and Peru. Without having to worry about the wishes of a fellow traveler, she ended up living and working in Cusco. She is helping at a local primary school, and she lives on the premises. Since we last saw her, she has had several Peruvian boyfriends, has decided to put off going to University (perhaps indefinitely), and now prefers to speak with us in Spanish rather than English.

After several months in Cusco, she was also well-versed in the local disco scene. Which worked out quite well, since we had decided to go out dancing for Paul's final night before returning home. After we sorted out the various levels of sickness and tiredness amongst us, Miki, Calliope, Ana, and I finally hit the dance floor of what seemed the least-crowded venue around (not!). As we danced, various friends of Ana's joined us. Like Ana, they were young blond women, which seemed strange since we haven't stumbled across many young blond women in our travels in Peru. There were lots of interesting things to comment on about the evening, including -

• why we didn't pay a cover charge, even though there were men at the door who appeared to be collecting money,


• one Peruvian who wanted to dance with our group of 6 foreign women asked Miki's permission to dance with us,


• Ana and her German/Swedish/?? friends seemed to know the words to the English music blaring from the speakers better than I did,
  ...

I only bring all this up, because that night Ana told us that she liked the ruins at Pisac better than those at Machu Picchu. So, when we decided to spend a couple of nights in Pisac, rather than Cusco, I invited Ana to join us for a romp around the ruins. Ana sent me an email this morning letting me know that she had stayed out all night, and had (wisely) decided that her time would be better spent in bed rather than clambering around mountainside ruins on her one day-off.

Yesterday, just after arriving in Pisac and finding a place to stay, our family and Miki parted ways. After almost 3 weeks of sharing close quarters as well as some of Peru's most stunning sites, it was an emotional farewell. This left Tom, TM, Calliope, and I on our own for the first time in several weeks.

Pisac was the first set of Incan ruins we had come across that looked "lived-in". Like Machu Picchu, it had a little of everything: separate areas for agriculture, warriors,






ceremony,






nobility,






and commoners.






These areas were spread out over a hilltop and connected by paths and stone stairs.






There were lots of nice places to sit and take in the views along the way.










And the surrounding mountains provided a beautiful backdrop.






From the ruins, I could see just how small Pisac was and just how large their famous Sunday market was. From the ruins, I could see that the stalls were covered in blue and white awnings. And these awnings overflowed the central plaza and snaked down 3 of the streets emanating from the plaza.






After walking another hour downhill, we too were snaking our way through those streets. Our boots have been getting a good workout.