After leaving Lima, we took a plane to Cusco to save some travel time. We were now in the mountains of Peru. It's even more beautiful than I imagined. After exploring Cusco for a day (which I will post later), we booked a tour for the Sacred Valley. They drove us to a couple of different places. It was an all day thing. I loved it. It was so beautiful. It got me excited to see Machu Picchu which we would be seeing a couple days later.
Here is a description of the Sacred Valley provided by Wikipedia, because they do a lot better explaining than I would. I will just stick to what I'm good at... taking pictures.
The Sacred Valley of the Incas or the Urubamba Valley is a valley in the Andes of Peru, close to the Inca capital ofCusco and the ancient city of Machu Picchu. It is located in the present-day Peruvian region of Cusco. In colonial documents it is referred to as the "Valley of Yucay." According to recent researches it encompasses the heartland of the Inca Empire. The valley is generally understood to include everything between Calca and Lamay, Písac, andOllantaytambo. The valley was formed by the Urubamba River, also known as Willkanuta River (Aymara, "house of the sun") or Willkamayu (Quechua). The latter, in Quechua, the still spoken lingua franca of the Inca Empire, means thesacred river. It is fed by numerous rivers which descend through adjoining valleys and gorges, and contains numerous archaeological remains and villages. The valley was appreciated by the Incas due to its special geographical and climatic qualities. It was one of the empire's main points for the extraction of natural wealth, and one of the most important areas for maize production in Peru northwards from Pisac. The early Incas may have come from Wimpillay, as their mummies had been discovered there. Large scale maize production started around 1400 as Inca urban agriculture based on varieties bred in Moray, either a governmental crop lab or a seedling nursery of the Incas
Here are some of my favorite pictures I took on our Sacred Valley Tour.
2 comments:
What neat pictures!! The mustard colored building with the arches reminds me of a bank we were next to in Nicaragua.
Lots of beautiful shots here, Tracy. Nice work. The one where you are sitting on some rock near the edge of a high place makes me a little nervous, but it probably wasn't as bad as it looks. I hope. ;)
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