Pisac

Picking up where I left off, I'm posting in Pisac; a town with ruins located in the heart of the sacred valley. We ended up going here twice. The first time for its famous market. The second time for the ruins. An hour away from Cusco, getting to Pisac requires a drive along a treacherous stretch of highway going in and out of the sacred valley, with nowhere to go on one side and long, steep dropoff into the valley on the other. On our first trip in and out, we took the local bus. This was the most terrifying bus ride of my life, up to this point. I've come to learn that you think you mIght plummet to your death on nearly every bus ride in the highlands as most roads follow rivers and valleys. Not to mention, Peruvians drive fast and reckless, passing on blind turns, etc. I just tell myself the bus driver has no incentive to kill himself either. So the local bus was old, rickety and topheavy. The scenes of valley walls, valley floors, and buses whipping around out the view of the windshield was frightening. On the way back, with standing room only and being on the cliff side off the highway, the experience was frightening and uncomfortable. But we survived and it makes a good story. We decided we would pay the extra couple bucks from here on out for a collectivo (mini van transport vehicle) for a slightly less terrifying and more comfortable ride.

Anyway, the market was pretty good. Its huge, although most of the vendors sell the same stuff. So, it would seem there exists some factory here (or ChIna?) that mass produces Peruvian tourist goods. This would be fine if the vendors would sell the stuff as cheap as I believe it to be. However, they don't, nor do they seem to enjoy hagglIng as much as I hoped. After giving in to a high price once, I decided I would just lowball they heck out of them and if they budge they budge. If not, I could try the next stall. Well, this day, I kind of struck out. The market is so touristy the vendors know what they can get away with. On the other side of things there are legitimate handmade goods that are justifiably more expensive. Problem is I dIdn't/don't have the money for them. For an hour we talked to this tapestry/art school professor who showed us his loom and everything, who had amazing stuff. If only I had the packing room and soles to get dome, but just did not. Maybe next time.

We came back to Pisac for their ruins, which were awesome. The are high above the town so we had to get a taxi to the entrance. When we got there we hiked further up the hill above the ruins for some great views, and then worked our way down through the ruins (which were huge) before hiking all the way down the mountain to the town on the valley floor. All in all it took 5 hours. We had wanted to see the ruins in Ollantaytambo this day too, but our day wad slow to start from being a little food sick overnight. After the 5 hours it took at Pisac I don't know how we could have pulled it of anyway. The ruins were very impressive with it's design, location, and flush stonework (fyi Inca used neither iron, steel, or the wheel...how they pulled thIs off Is mIndblowIng), as were the views of the sacred valley. The Inca considered this place a garden of Eden, and it's easy to see why. Very beautiful, peaceful, and fertile. They grow over 3000 varieties of corn here. Imagine that.