The Pisac ruins are some of the largest in the entire Sacred Valley, and dispite the excellent condition that they are in, not much is known about them. I'll tell you what I know....I know that they made me love to hate Inca steps. Or any steps for that matter. It wasn't a hard hike, but yet it was exactly that....a hard hike.
It only took about two hours, (one way) maybe a bit longer, but let me tell you, if that's any indication of the Inca trail (and guess what? It is an indication of the trail...the guides watch to see how you cope, and that gives them a good idea of how well a person will do on the actual 4 day Inca trail. Aaaaand, I talked to someone after, and they, the guides, were dead on with the ones that they knew would have problems. )
It was a hot day, and I had stocked up on water, between the heat and the altitude, water is a necessary item, too bad it's so heavy. Between a water holder, my camera around my neck, my knapsack on my back (Val-de-ree, Val-de-raaaaa...my knaaaapsack on my baaaack), it was like I wanted to have a temper tantrum from all the straps in my way whenever I wanted something. I'm sure you can picture it, you know how your hands get all flappy and annoyed when stuff gets in your way and all tangle-y? And you want to snarl "Faaak...stupid shit in my faaking way!" Well, it was worse than that, I just don't do heat or stairs well, and a combo of heat and stairs was really frustrating me.
Terrace farming is much more interesting than you would think. I mean first of all, imagine the work involved in carving these steps out of the steep mountainside. Each of those "steps" is 10 or 12 feet high. Then, the hauling in of the stones to make the retaining walls, so much work. And how did they know that the stone walls would heat up during the day and keep the crops from freezing at night? And they realized that steps like this were the most efficient use of shallow soil and would help prevent soil erosion and run-off. What? Run-off? From what water? Oh, from the canals and aqueducts that they then built, which still have fresh, clean water running through them to this very day.
I splashed some of the water on my face and neck, but I didn't drink any. We weren't sure where it comes from, and there are llamas and people up here, and you never know who (or what) might pee where, and where said pee might trickle in to or down to. There are little "fountains" (for lack of a better word) like this one, that just pop up in the middle of nowhere...no one is sure where the spring begins, or how deep it is, or how long the underground aqueducts are, or, more interesting yet, how they built them...talk about a good infrastructure, in my hometown of Cranbrook, our water mains burst somewhere in town at least once or twice a year. And we have technology up the yingyang. How can your mind just not be constantly in a dither here?
And by the way, here's an interesting tidbit as to the name "Inca" and what it really means. It doesn't have anything to do with water, but I keep meaning to jot it down and I keep forgetting.
The word Inca actually meant the ruler of the people, like a king. The people were called the Quechua. There were only a few Inca kings, 12 as a matter of fact, and as one died, a new Inca replaced him, similar to a monarchy. They were chosen by both bloodline and marriage. When the Spanish conquered the Quechua, they called all of the people Inca, to lessen the power of the word, and as the years went by, the word Inca came to mean all of the people, even though it isn't correct.
More terraces. And look how HIGH we are! As we walked up here, we passed a large mountain/hill filled with holes, which had been burial sites, but had been vandalized over the years and all the bodies were long gone.
They buried them this high because they believed it would make it easier for the condor, one of the animals that they worshipped, to find the spirit of the deceased and guide them home.
There were quite a few trails and paths cross-crossing the one we were on, and apparently a lot of locals use the paths to get to Pisac town, which has a huge market twice a week. I really like this next picture, I'm assuming that this woman was on her way to the town since she wasn't selling anything, she just seemed to be enjoying the view. Hopefully she wasn't looking at her house waaaay down there and realizing she had forgotten something.
And I think even a bit higher yet! The scenery was breathtaking. Or that might have been the altitude. I do know that my breath was sometimes in short supply, but luckily there was no rush, no hurry, we could sit and enjoy the scenery...we were actually encouraged to take our time, to walk away and find a spot to just alone to soak in the atmosphere. I was most appreciative of that, I enjoy being by myself, especially in a place like this where there is just so much to try to comprehend.
If you look in the centre of the picture below, you can see some of the path, and how it winds back and forth. There were huge steps, easy sections, some places that curled through little tunnels and tight spots, a little bit of everything to test ones mettle.
Our guides tried to cheer us up with guide-like silliness as we trudged down....hungry and tired and hot and sweaty, but for the most part, pretty pleased with what we had accomplished. I know it doesn't seem like much, a hike of a few hours, but it was unlike any hike I've ever done, and I was pretty pleased...both with myself, and with the sights I saw.
When we got back to our air conditioned bus, we headed down the road to have some lunch, at the poorly named Inkalicious. I think that's at least the second place we've eaten at with that name, and it's not like it's a chain, it's just a name that restaurant owners around here seem to like, I've noticed it a few other times as well. I kinda get annoyed at this trend of having "licious" at the end of words.
However, it was totally redeemd by the fact that it had poinsettias growing wild! I've never seen a poinsettia anywhere other than in a pot wrapped in foil on the shelves of a supermarket at Christmas. I was childishly delighted!
What a way to let your meal digest. Oh! My meal! It was a buffet, so I was able to try a few items, even after all that walking and sweating, I still wasn't very hungry.
It's very rich in minerals, but the seeds contain alkaloids and are thus toxic unless they are processed first, which is done by boiling them. And, as an interesting tidbit, that water is then cooled and used as a pesticide...very earth-friendly and economical as well. The plant and seeds are then used in soups and stews or ground into flour and used like a cornmeal or polenta. I was happy to learn all this and to be able to try it as it turned out to be the first and only place I saw it. It tasted fine, very much like polenta as a matter of fact.
Next was some rice, some sweet potato, then trout (trucha) in a mild curry. I tried it because trout is huge here, which just strikes me as a little odd, fish and mountains don't really go together, especially when a lot of the rivers have such a high mineral content that the fish are very scarce, or even non-existent.
I didn't get a picture of dessert, it was rice pudding with raisins and nutmeg, which I simply adore....but more than that, it also included the syrup made from blue corn that I mentioned in an earlier post. Were you paying attention? They boil the blue corn until it turns sweet and thick and syrupy. Mmmmmm...sweet, syrupy goodness...it would make a lesser woman's teeth ache.
The soup was chicken, although I couldn't find any meat in it, just the broth and veggies. I tried it because the potatoes were the "freeze dried" kind. (Remember? I talked about those earlier too.)
They definatly had a different texture than a non-freeze dried potato, a sort of "mealy" feeling in the mouth, but I had wanted to try some, so I was pleased to have a few new food adventures at this little place. Considering I tasted a few delicous Inca dishes, maybe Inkalicious wasn't such a bad name choice after all....
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