In yesterday’s post I outlined why we chose to stay in the Sacred Valley as our primary home base for visiting Machu Picchu and all the other sites in this area. Today I will go into more detail about our visit to Machu Picchu and some of the other sites we visited.
Day 1: Fly into Cusco, drive straight to Tambo Del Inka in Urubamba
In my opinion, one of the most important details to consider when heading to Peru’s Sacred Valley region is the altitude. Altitude sickness is a real thing.
As I mentioned yesterday, your flight will land in Cusco. The altitude there is 11,000+ feet above sea level. If you are planning a trip to this area, I would definitely recommend leaving a buffer day to acclimate. Another precautionary step is leaving Cusco and heading into the Valley. Which is what we did. Our hotel in Urubamba was at about 9,500 feet, which was much better.
Not knowing if anyone would be feeling sick when we got there, we did not plan anything on the day we arrived. Other than settling into our hotel rooms and relaxing. The previous 3 days had been non-stop for the boys, and they really needed a break. They watched a movie on the iPad, went swimming in the hotel pool, and checked out the game room.
The only place we did go is a local restaurant, PaCa PaCa, for a late lunch. Thank goodness for my aunt who knew all the good places to eat in this little town. The food was delicious. And the bohemian vibe was right up our alley.
Weary and hungry before lunch at PaCa PaCa
Day 2: Maras, Moray and Chincheros
Our first stop on our second day was Maras, an area famous for its salt ponds. The water comes from an underground spring. Once the flow is cut off and the water evaporates, what is left is this mineral rich salt.
A dozen or so families from this community run and harvest salt from the platforms you can see below. It was really cool to see the people raking it up and filling their big bags with this salt.
Our guide, who I will tell you more about later, encouraged us to dip our hand in the stream and let it dry out. What remained was a salty powder. The boys loved getting their hands in the stream and licking off the salt.
Dipping our hands in the salty water. As soon as it dried, you had a salty powder coating your hands.
Our next stop after Maras was the Incan archaeological site, Moray. Moray is a perfect example of what gifted farmers the Incas were.
Moray has several of these terraced precise circles. The one below has been restored beautifully, and the others are in the process of being restored. If you are wondering who dug the hole, it was actually a meteor!I R
The Incas used the existing crater as a head start to creating this agricultural marvel. The terraces are spaced in a way that each level is 4 degrees different than the next. So they would base which crops they planted on each terrace based on the temperatures needed. Crazy, huh?
Chincheros was our last stop of the day – Brian’s favorite of the trip. Of all the places you will visit in the Sacred Valley, this is where you will be at the highest altitude – over 12,000 feet above sea level. The day we visited, a storm rolled in as we arrived at the main square.
The buildings were a marriage between the Incan structures and the Spanish who conquered them. If you look at the stones at the bottom, that is Incan. The white on top, Spanish. Even the cathedral was like that. I guess the conquistadors recognized good engineering when they saw it.
Walking through the streets of Chincheros. Feeling the altitude.
The colonial cathedral in Chincheros
Behind the cathedral, more of the Incas’ terraced farmlands.
Heading back to the car before the storm rolled in
Our last stop in Chincheros was a textile workshop. Here we got to see how they transform unrefined alpaca wool into the beautiful colorful textiles Peru is famous for. All using natural plants for their unique colors.
Using a natural detergent to clean the wool
Day 3: Machu Picchu
Finally. On the third day it was time to hit Machu Picchu. It’s kind of an ordeal to get there, so as I mentioned before, we left it up to the hotel to take care of most of the details. I didn’t want to miss something and be the reason we didn’t get in.
First of all, when you purchase your admission tickets, you have to choose what time of day you will be visiting – morning or afternoon. I guess they are trying to manage the crowds a bit better. We chose the morning time slot, which allowed us to have access until noon.
We got picked up from Tambo del Inka at 5am. The driver took us to the Ollantaytambo train station about 30 minutes away. There is actually a train station on the Tambo del Inka property, which would have been super convenient. But…its schedule didn’t have an early morning departure. So we took the 6:10 am train from Ollantaytambo instead to our destination in Aquas Calientes.
The train ride is INCREDIBLE. For about an hour and a half, you are weaving through mountains and out of this world scenery. That is definitely a highlight of the Machu Picchu experience in my opinion. One I even remember from 15 years ago when Brian and I were here last.
Leaving the train station in Aquas Calientes
From the Aguas Calientes train station we needed to get on one of the many green buses headed up the mountain to Machu Picchu. We were prepared for a long line to get on the buses, but there was no line. By 8am, we were at the entrance of Machu Picchu.
Max at the entrance of Machu Picchu, waiting to meet up with our guide
Up at the entrance, we met up with our pre-arranged guide, Patricio. One of the ways that they are protecting the ruins is by requiring admittance with a guide. You are basically following a path that has a beginning and an end along with your guide. Sure, you can stop, take a little detour, etc. But you don’t want to go against the flow of the traffic.
For the next two hours, he walked us around the famous Incan ruins. Most people think that Machu Picchu is at a super high altitude because of the clouds. Not really. At least not in comparison to Cusco and Chincheros. You’re only at around 8,000 feet above sea level here. The clouds are more a result of MP being at the edge of the Peruvian rainforest.
Can you wrap your head around the fact that the Incas created this city with no metal instruments and without the wheel?! It’s just crazy to think about. How did they get everything up there? Look at all they built with no mortar. It really is as jaw-dropping as it looks.
Machu Picchu: so how crowded was it?
Going in, we were prepared for Walt Disney World type crowds. You see, last year when we were in the Peruvian rainforest, we met a couple who had just come from MP and they told us how crowded it was. I’m glad I was mentally prepared, because there were a lot of people. But not as bad as I had feared.
We did get there early though. So if you make plans to go to Machu Picchu, I would try to be at the entrance by 8am. It seemed to be a lot more crowded when we were exiting around 11am.
Another good move I feel like we made was having pre-purchased lunch at the Sanctuary Lodge. The Sanctuary Lodge Hotel is the only hotel located next to the Machu Picchu ruins. If you can shell out the $1,000+/night to stay there, I cannot think of a more magical experience. Clearly, we did not.
But, we did have tickets to eat their delicious lunch buffet though. Having woken up at 4:15am and barely eaten much, lunch as we left the ruins at 11am was perfect. We ate slowly and meandered out to catch a bus headed back down the mountain.
Machu Picchu: Day Visit or Hike the Inca Trail?
If you have ever looked into visiting Machu Picchu, you probably know that you have an alternate option to get there: hiking the Inca Trail. These guided 3 to 5 day hikes are supposed to be incredible. You hike in the gorgeous scenery you see from the train ride I told you about earlier. On the last day of your hike, you wake up pre-dawn to arrive at Machu Picchu’s Sun Gate as the sun is rising. Magical from what I hear.
Although we have been to Machu Picchu twice already, we have not yet done the Inca Trail. We felt like our kids were just not there yet this time. Overall, they are comfortable hiking and camping, but not sure they could keep up with 3 days’ worth. Happily anyway 🙂
If you are going solo or your kids are teenagers or older, my advice is definitely do the Inca Trail if you can! Once in a lifetime experience for sure.
Day 4: Hike in Yucay, Lunch at the Hacienda Huayoccari, Pisac Market
Our fourth day in the Sacred Valley was probably my favorite. When planning our activities for each day, my aunt Pierina had thrown out possibly doing this hike from the village of Yucay that she had done a few years earlier. The destination? Some pre-Incan cave drawings that looked like this:
We thought that it would be a fun change of pace for us and the kids. So we headed out on our trek that morning.
For some reason, I thought this would be a leisurely walk on a flat trail. And it was…at the beginning. We were surrounded by farmlands on both sides as we walked along a mountain stream. Not one tourist or visitor ever crossed our path. The only people we saw were a few farmers here and there. It was heavenly.
Until it got hard. The flat terrain started to slope steeply as soon as we headed into the mountains. And pretty soon our leisurely stroll got intense. And from that point, we never saw a soul. Except for the mule pictured below walking by himself down the trail. And his owners trailing behind him.
You might notice in these pictures Brian is cajoling the kids into not giving up. There was a lot of stopping for rest at this point.
At every turn, my aunt thought we were so close to the pre-Incan drawings. And then nothing. Here you can start seeing how steep it started getting. And rocky.
After 2 hours of intense hiking at a high altitude, we decided to head back. Somehow, Max and Brian got lost. They think we got lost. Regardless, we finally all made it back in one piece. Tired and hungry.
After it was over, we all agreed what we had just experienced was Type II fun on the fun scale:
Miserable while it’s happening, but fun in retrospect. It usually begins with the best intentions, and then things get carried away.
Good thing we were hungry, because the next stop was the Hacienda Huayoccari. This place was so cool. Still owned by the same family, this home/restaurant/museum was tucked high up a mountain. Thank goodness our guide’s car was 4 wheel drive because it was like 5 miles going up a steep dirt road to get here. But it was definitely worth it!
If you are in the Sacred Valley, you should definitely make plans to eat here. Make sure you have cash though. They do not accept credit cards, as we regrettably found out the hard way.
Views from the garden at Huayoccari
Our last stop of the day was the town of Pisac. Pisac is know for its outdoor market. There are dozens of stalls set up in the center of town filled with artisan goods to entice all the tourists. We got there towards the end of the day, so there were not too many other people there. The boys used their spending money to pick up a few things.
After a full day, we were ready to head back to our hotel and jump into the jacuzzi.
Day 5: Leave Urubamba and spend day in Cusco
On our fifth day, we enjoyed our last breakfast together at Tambo del Inka with my aunt, and headed back to Cusco. She went to the airport, and we checked into our hotel. Our flight was scheduled for early the next morning, so we took the opportunity to walk around and explore the city.
One recommendation I had found online was Cusco’s ChocoMuseo. The rave reviews on TripAdvisor for the chocolate-making classes intrigued us enough to sign up. Thankfully, we did because I cannot remember a time we have had so much fun together.
We laughed so hard we cried. Our teacher was insanely funny – I wish I could remember his name! Surprisingly, we actually learned a whole lot about the process of making chocolate. All this to say, if you are in Cusco, take the “Bean to Bar” workshop!
How We Got Around
I should probably mention that although Tambo del Inka had a very good trip planning agency located on-site, we only used them for our day trip to Machu Picchu. For the other days, my aunt had a super handy contact for a personal driver who took us everywhere. Plus, he also served as our guide everywhere we went.
Although it doesn’t sound like it would be, going this route was way more reasonably priced compared to using the hotel’s service. If I would have known he could also have come to Machu Picchu with us, I would have done it. Probably would have saved a lot there too.
Our guide, Jose Luis (pictured below), was extremely knowledgeable on pretty much anything and everything we wanted to know. From Incan history to cultural issues of today, he covered everything with us. He also spoke great English. Email me for his contact info if you are heading to this area of Peru any time soon.
Our driver and guide to the Sacred Valley, Jose Luis
As you might be able to tell, we loved every minute of our time in the Sacred Valley. Machu Picchu was awesome, but there is so much more to appreciate in the region. And the frosting on the cake? No time difference. So no jet lag to deal with.
If you want to go somewhere that feels and looks like you are in a storybook, look into visiting Peru!
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Posted by Ale & filed under Travel. This post has 4 comments.
Happy New Year! Although I have not actually hit “Publish” in a while, I feel like I’ve written about 18 posts in my head since the last one. However, the posts seem to be getting stuck in my head and not actually getting written.
