Machu Picchu and The Sacred Valley

Machu Picchu and The Sacred Valley- DONE! We started our organised tour through 'The Sacred Valley' on Sunday 29th March at 8.00am. Our first stop was Pisaq, an archaeological park and a small town home to 9,000 inhabitants. Our tour guide was called **** he was extremely informative throughout the day and spoke fantastic English...thank goodness because our Spanish is useless! He explained to us that the native language in Peru is called Quechua and this originates from the Inca Empire. I thought the term 'Incas' classified the entire population, but oh how wrong I was- **** told us that the Incas were actually the 13 Kings that reigned during the Incan civilization. The two essentials for constructing an Inca Empire were running water and a rock quarry. After a quick dora exploration of the preserved Inca ruins in Pisaq we visited the local Sunday market- locals littered the main square offering fresh vegetables, fruits, corn, potatoes etc. The most unusual thing I saw was a lady pushing a trolley with bleeding wood from the jungle- the wood was spiralled like a ball of string and was literally 'bleeding' a red substance. It was decanted into a bowl which was then put into a small canister for those wishing to buy. She claimed it had healing properties and 3 drops would even prevent against cancer (a very ambitious claim!) Guinea pig is a national dish here, **** explained that if he took a cooked guinea pig to his boss, this would signify or gesture the hope for a pay rise. Bit of a bizarre image- taking a cooked guinea pig on a stick into work. In Quechuan a guinea pig is called 'cuy'. Enough of historian Bex and on to the most important part of the day-LUNCH! We knew we were stopping for lunch, but little did we know it was an all you can eat Incan King style buffet. Travelling on a budget means constant money monitoring and so walking into a swanky restaurant and being instantly hit with the aroma of fresh food and the look of the endless supply of it all, almost made my eyes pop out of my head. This may sound like i've been eating minimally, which is definitely not the case, but I think because the lunch was inclusive within our tour and had been paid for so far in advance, it sort of felt like a free meal...a free endless supply of too many yummies! I felt slightly homeless scoffing down delicious fresh salads, quinoa (Inca rice), bread and an array of mini deserts. After over indulging, we proceeded 40 minutes to our final stop in The Sacred Valley- Ollantaytambo. Here lay a preserved Inca Empire tucked in the corner of a valley- very clever little Incas as this positioning then made it hard for enemies to attack. We left our main man **** in Ollantaytambo and the three of us skipped along to the train station to catch 'Inca Rail' to Aquas Calientes (the local Machu Picchu town). If the all you can eat buffet hadn't been enough to satisfy us, we were given our own single beds and bathroom and towels and tv and ahhhh our own room! It was luxury, especially after Dais changed the tv from spanish to english- Harry Potter and Happy Feet never sounded so good! It was an ideal little nest to catch our llama zzzzzzz's before a 5am rise the following morning. We caught the bus up to Machu Picchu at roughly 6am- we had between 7-8am to enter for Wayna Picchu. Stood behind a seriously pro hiking looking french couple, we were second in line to race up to the top of Wayna Picchu. From Machu Picchu, it looked like a vertical mountain, no path or steps in sight. However, after the initial descent (never a promising sign when you know you're going up)...the ridiculously steep, almost vertical steps lay ahead. We were told it would take an hour to reach the top, but we obvs did it in 35 minutes because we're such athletic llamas/ we stopped a good few times almost on the verge of an asthma attack...or something close to how I imagine an asthma attack to feel (the altitude wasn't in our favour). It was really special to be one of the first people that day to reach the top and after sitting amongst the clouds for an hour, the sun worked its wonders and the view of Machu Picchu came into sight! It was absolutely incredible! After our tummy churning descent down Wayna Picchu (Dais and I shuffled down on our now toned Kim K bubble butts at points), we met our Machu Picchu tour guide Fred and the rest of our group. Fred had nothing on **** his english pronunciation was a little sketchy at times, but I did warm to him during the 2 hour tour. He showed and talked us through the Temple of the Sun, Temple of the Three Windows (Puma, Snake and Condor) and the Temple of the Condor (reincarnation). What I found most fascinating was to find out that Machu Picchu had only been discovered in 1911 by an American...who ended up marrying the daughter of 'Mr Tiffany's' (jewellery) ...very smart move Mr Machu Picchu founder. In terms of history, that is so recent, I was really shocked! I was equally amazed at the intelligence behind the structure of Machu Picchu- the sun lining up with certain rocks so the Incas knew the seasons and time, and the Temple of the Condor was a rock in the shape of a condor. None of this was obvious of course until Fred pointed it out. These subtle details really contribute to it's inspiring history. Exhaustion and throbbing calves were definitely worth it- Machu Picchu is spectacular and despite the tainted touch of tourism, this historic Inca Empire still possesses authenticity and had me speechless- a day I will never forget!!