The Sacred Valley of the Incas was undoubtedly a key area of settlement to the Incas. Its agreeable climate and fertile plains make a rare and fruitful combination for the high Andes. It was also the route to the jungle and therefore an area with access to the fruits and plants of the tropical lowlands. The Sacred Valley served as a buffer zone, protecting Cusco from incursions of the Antis, the fierce jungle tribes who from time to time raided the highlands. 
 
Today the Sacred Valley remains a lush agricultural region supplying the city of Cusco with much of its produce such as maize, fruit and vegetables. 

We stretched out and enjoyed the scenery on our way to Calca. We visited the Ccaccaccollo community centre, which G Adventures travellers' donations helped to create through the Planeterra Foundation in 2005. This centre enables the local women to sell traditional textiles to travellers. We watched their weaving and dyeing techniques used to create garments and souvenirs. I even tried weaving on a loom with instructions from a local woman. They have beautiful traditional outfits including a hat. Every tribe has their own outfit. An interesting fact about this tribes outfit is the hat. If it is worn with the brim down the woman is married and is not available. However, if it is worn brim up it means they are available. We made our way to the market and learned about the various wools they weave with, notably llama and alpaca. There are hand "signs" for each animal. We also saw what they used to dye the wool with which consisted of roots, leaves, berries and mixtures with salt and lemon juice to name a few. A particularly outgoing little girl posed with me. They are so cute. We also had an opportunity to look through their market and buy any souvenirs we wished to. 

We, then, went to the hilltop citadel of Pisaq, an Incan ruin with plunging gorges, a ceremonial centre, and winding agriculture terracing that's still in use today. This is a truly captivating site sitting amid sweeping green valleys and mountain peaks. At the back of the site there is a pocketed cliff across Kitamayo Gorge, which once contained hundreds of Inca tombs. The village is best known for its Sunday market, which draws hundreds of tourists each week. 

It was lunch time so we went to the Parwa Community Restaurant in Lamay. They serve organic food from farm to table. It was simply delicious. We played some local games. In one you had to throw a small metal disc into a frogs (brass, not real) mouth. There were holes in the board that had points associated with them. The frogs mouth provided the highest number of points. Whoever gets the most points wins. It was a nice break. Then it was back into the bus for the next Inca ruin.
 
Ollantaytambo is an attractive little town located at the western end of the Sacred Valley (about two and a half hours by bus from Cusco). The town has been built on top of original Inca foundations and is the best surviving example of Inca town planning. The town is divided in canchas (blocks) which are almost entirely intact. Each cancha has only one entrance (usually a huge stone doorway) which leads into a central courtyard. The houses surround the courtyard. The town is located at the foot of some spectacular Inca ruins which protected the strategic entrance to the lower Urubamba Valley. The temple area is at the top of steep terracing which helped to provide excellent defences in addition to being agricultural terraces. Stone used for these buildings was brought from a quarry high up on the opposite side of the Urubamba river - an incredible feat involving the efforts of thousands of workers. The complex was still under construction at the time of the conquest by the Spaniards and was never completed. After Manco Inca was defeated by the Spanish at Saqsayhuaman following the unsuccessful siege of Cusco (1536) he retreated to Ollantaytambo. Francisco Pizarro's younger brother Hernando led a force of 70 cavalry, 30 foot soldiers and a large contingent of natives to capture Manco Inca. The Inca's forces, joined by neighbouring jungle tribes, rained down showers of arrows, spears and rocks upon the unfortunate Spanish troops. In an intelligent move the Inca's flooded the plains below their stronghold making it difficult for the horses to manoeuvre. Hernando, uncharacteristically, ordered a hasty retreat. Ollantaytambo became the only place ever to have resisted attacks from the Spanish. However, their victory was short-lived when the Spanish returned with four times their previous force. Manco Inca retreated to his jungle stronghold in Vilcabamba and Ollantaytambo fell into the hands of the Spanish. 
 
These Inca ruins consist of hundreds of stairs to get to the Temple of the Sun. We had to make several stops to catch our breath on the way up. 

The town was celebrating its anniversary and there was a festival in the main square with bands, tons of food and lots of drinking. All the locals were out to help mark this day. 

Then, we went to a beautiful hotel and the hikers had to get ready for their hike tomorrow. They could only take 5 kgs including sleeping bags and air mattresses for the 4 day hike which proved to be a real challenge. Vic and I had dinner and a couple of drinks and then it was off to bed. This trip has been exhausting. We have had very long, busy days and can barely keep our eyes open after 10:00 pm.