A Visit to the Sacred Valley

Our journey into the Sacred Valley began with a 20 hour bus ride from Lima to Cusco and then a 2.5 hour taxi drive from Cusco to Ollantaytumbo. The scenery was beautiful- a tremendous amount of agriculture (primarily papas aka popotatoes) as well as several glaciated peaks. The altitude seemed to be a bit much at first as we were over 12,000 feet at times- quit a change from our night in Lima- at sea level! Once in Ollantaytambo we were amazed by the numerous ruins that surrounded the quaint little village. This is the only sight that the Incans successfully defeated the Spanish conquistadors- they had the high ground, literally. Thus making their early city very defensible, at least temporarily. The Spanish eventually returned with more conquistadors and were too much for the mighty Incas to handle.

After a night drinking the traditional mate de coca, we boarded an early train headed for Aquas Calientes- the base of Machu Picchu. The train ride was quite exhilerating for two river guides from Idaho as we coasted right beside the mighty Urubamba river. The other train passengers must have questioned our sanity as we gauged the doability of the tumultuous river! A solid class 5+ for miles at a time! There were sections that mellowed out to 4+, still not lessening the massive power that it has!

Once in Aquas Calientes we bolted for the quickest hostel to drop our bags, buy our entrance tickets, and then punish our legs as we may have never done before. We began our trek up numerous sets of narrow and incredibly steep stone stairs. 3,000 feet vertical gain and who knows how many switch backs later, we had finally arrived to the City of the Gods- in only 30 minutes! The cloud forest was giving us its best face, though with patience, the clouds would part giving us some incredible views and a few great photos. The adventure race had just begun, the vertical gain and hiking was by no means over. After a short break for a few photos, we began our journey up Waynapicchu- the King´s Throne. This was an even steeper journey- easily another 2,000 feet, requiring the use of hands on the stairsteps, and even crawling through a couple of caves! The trek was worth it though for the few seconds glimpse we were able to get peering down upon Machu Picchu! One might think that our journey was now complete, however, we had to race the ¨clock¨ to catch a glimpse of the truly impresive Inca bridge.

After a very wet and tiring day, we made our way back to Cusco for some much needed r&r. After a day experiencing the art, food, and people of this southern Andean city, we are preparing to head to Lake Titicaca- the largest/highest altiplano lake in the world!