Cusco and Sacred Valley, Peru. Overview of positions on the Sacred Valley map in World of Tanks Latest news about Peru

(El Valle Sagrado de los Incas) is located in Peru and is famous throughout the world. Who hasn't heard of Machu Picchu? But the fact is that Machu Picchu is not the only city of the Incas; their civilization is not only famous for this undoubtedly outstanding structure. The Inca Empire occupied a huge area, and throughout this territory there are various cities or water or plant terraces. The Incas arranged their country with great taste.

From the city of Lima, we arrived in the city of Cusco by bus. This is where all travelers who come to get acquainted with the ancient Inca culture settle. From Cusco it is convenient to make day trips to the surrounding areas with ancient sights remaining from the ancient powerful civilization in South America. The city of Cusco is the key to the Sacred Valley, so almost every traveler to Peru spends several busy days here. After all, having arrived in Peru, you definitely need to visit the Sacred Valley, which is the main attraction here, as well as the famous one in the state of Arizona in the USA.

Route through the Sacred Valley and Inca attractions

We sightseeed in the Sacred Valley of the Incas in several approaches, each time returning to the city. We started from the closest site, and little by little we came up with an ideal route that allows us to get acquainted with the ruins of Inca culture and architecture with all the care they deserve. Running with a taxi driver scared us a little, so we decided not to set records and see the entire valley in one day.

Thus our route through the Sacred Valley of the Incas turned out like this:

• 1 day - , .
• Day 2 – and
• Day 3 – ()
• Day 4 –
• Day 5 – , and ,
• Day 6 – ()

Maps and transport

Map of the Sacred Valley and its attractions

Trek to Machu Picchu - the main attraction of Peru

Another map of the Sacred Valley

Transport issue

How to get to the attractions of the Sacred Valley of the Incas. Almost all objects can be reached by bus or collectively. We traveled to Machu Picchu in a combi with other tourists, and to Choquequerao on a regular bus, and reached the starting points of the route. So, having a Boleto Tourismo and having bought a ticket to Machu Picchu in advance, we made it much easier for us to move around the Sacred Valley. And of course, having chosen regular buses or minibuses, we almost never depended on other people. We spent as much time on the object as we wanted.

About tickets to Cusco and Machu Picchu

• We bought a ticket for Machu Picchu online (website, and it’s better to make a purchase on the Spanish page, then it will work properly!) about a month and a half before the expected visit. Our ticket also included a morning visit Huaynu Picchu. Cost: 157 soles (or $55).
• If you are satisfied with only the lost city of the Incas itself, without climbing the neighboring mountains (there is also the option Machu Picchu + Montagna, 140 soles), then such a ticket can be purchased locally or in Cusco (130 soles). If you arrived in Aguas Calientes during the day, you can buy a ticket to Machu Picchu for half a day, from 13:00, and it costs 50 soles. Climbing tickets must be purchased online, as a limited number of people are allowed to climb the mountains (400 per day).
• It’s also worth buying a five-day trek to Machu Picchu in advance if you want to walk the Inca Trail ( Inca trail). Access to the trail is also limited (200 people per day), so you should worry about it in advance, three or two months in advance. The cost of such a trip is from $600. This includes tickets to Machu Picchu and a return train ticket. We did not try this method, but went by combi + on foot. It turned out to be quite interesting too. And with big surprises! And we went trekking to Choquequirao!
• We visited all other sites using a single ticket (), which we also purchased in Cusco in Coricanchi Museum for 130 soles. Tickets must be paid separately for Salineras(7 soles) and on Choquequirao(37 soles). Both are purchased upon entry.

Photos of attractions

Sacsaywaman

Tambomachay

Puka Pukara

Temple of the Moon (Amaru marca wasi, Templo de la Luna)

Monkey Temple (Cusilluchayoc)

Kenko

Pikillacta

Rumicolca

Tipon

View of Machu Picchu from Huayna Picchu (Machu Picchu)

Pisac

Ollantaytambo

Salineras

Moray

Chinchero

Choquequirao

Reflections on the Incas

The diversity of the Sacred Valley confirmed the idea that not everything is so simple. Although the Incas controlled a vast territory and spread their building standards throughout the empire, even in this unity, inconsistencies are visible. The gulf between the Wari and the Incas becomes quite obvious. But there is also a gulf between the different Inca structures. And this can be seen in Pisak. Machu Picchu's younger sister Choquequirao indeed appears to be an imitation. All the canons are observed, but the scale is not at all the same.

When you study the architecture of Peru in detail and not only according to the standard program, a seditious thought creeps in that not only the Spaniards grabbed a delicious pie and built their churches on the ruins of Inca temples, but the Incas themselves did the same. Didn't they come prepared? Are not the buildings, which are simpler in terms of complexity, true Inca art, the art of imitation? Not only in the Sacred Valley, on the coast - all these buildings bear an external resemblance to the “Inca” style, but all this was not built so monumentally. There is no trace of unknown technologies, no megaliths were used. Everything is beautiful, but simple. Built from what was found at hand. Small stones in mountainous areas and burnt bricks in desert areas.

Perhaps what is attributed to the Wari is the Incas? And “Inca” is precisely the authorship of those unknown “gods” whom the Incas waited for but never received? We find traces of them, not only in Peru. And always and everywhere subsequent civilizations take credit for their achievements. Or to your enemies, whom you managed to subjugate. After all, it’s nice to defeat not a weak enemy, but a strong one.

The Sacred Valley of the Incas truly shows the diversity of cultures that lived in Peru. We will continue to call it the creation of the Incas, as is customary. But let us still keep another thought in mind: not everything is so simple and not everything is as it seems.

The Sacred Valley of the Incas is an area in the Andes, located along the Urubamba River, from the legendary Machu Picchu on one side to the ancient capital of the Inca Empire, Cusco, on the other. Initially, we did not plan any excursions around the Valley, perceiving it as some kind of inevitable evil on the way to our final goal - Machu Picchu. The original plan was to fly into Cusco early, leave for Machu Picchu on one of the early trains, and visit Machu Picchu in the afternoon with an overnight stay in Aguas Calientes. However, familiarity with the topic prompted us to rearrange the route so that the day could be devoted to excursions in the Sacred Valley of the Incas (which we did not regret one bit), and in the evening we would leave for Aguas Calientes, from which we would climb directly to Machu Picchu in the early morning.

A short digression on logistics for the conquerors of Machu Picchu

Getting to the legendary city high in the mountains is neither easy nor cheap:

• First you need to fly to Cusco (the flight from the capital of Peru, Lima, takes about 70-75 minutes and costs about 100 USD per person round trip. Tickets can be easily googled by any air travel aggregator.
• Then you need to take a ticket for the tourist train to the town of Aguas Calientes, located right at the foot of Machu Picchu. The train is designed specifically for tourists (locals travel by bus or cheap train, for which foreigners simply cannot buy a ticket), which is reflected in the price. Return tickets also cost us about 100 USD per person, and this was the cheapest possible option. There are two competing companies, Peru Rail and Inca Rail - the same eggs, only in front and profile. We rode Peru Rail. You can go to Machu Picchu either from Poroy station (15 minutes by taxi to the center of Cusco) or from the town of Ollantaytambo (about 1.5 hours from Cusco), but this is not reflected in the price. The train arrives at the Aguas Calientes station, which is designed to receive tourist traffic to Machu Picchu (and does a good job of it).
• From Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu there are buses along a 7-kilometer serpentine road, costing 24 USD per adult round trip. It’s better to buy a ticket at the box office the day before (but you can safely buy it just before the bus departs), the box office is open from 06:00 to 22:00 every day and is located right next to the bus departure point (any local will show it).
• Don’t forget to add here the price of the tickets to Machu Picchu (without visiting Mount Huayna Picchu it’s still about 50 USD per person, children under 8 years old are free). Tickets there need to be purchased on the website of the Peruvian Ministry of Culture, and I’ll tell you, it was a bit of a joke because of problems with Russian cards. On the 10th attempt, my payment went through, and the coveted tickets were received by mail. They write that it is better to use the Spanish version of the site, all this is nonsense - there is no difference. For some reason, my Visa cards from VTB and Sberbank did not work, but (not the first time) the Otkritie card did. Mastercard is better not to try. It is better to buy tickets in advance, as they may not be available on the same day.

You can read more about the road to Machu Picchu in a separate post.

In total, transport and entrance to Machu Picchu alone costs about 300 US dollars, and in the cheapest option. Multiply this by 3-4 people, add a taxi, food, hotels, a guide (since without it, the trip basically loses its meaning). However, all this is definitely worth it.

Here's a map to help you get your bearings a little. Cusco is in the middle, Machu Picchu is at the top left, Aguas Calientes is next to Machu Picchu and marked with a yellow star, Ollantaytambo is in the first left third at the top.

Our train to Machu Picchu left at 18:30 from Ollantaytambo, and we arrived in Cusco around 7:30 in the morning, so we had the whole day to explore the Valley. We immediately decided to leave Cusco so as not to get altitude sickness - the city is located at an altitude of 3,400 meters, and experts recommended gradually getting used to the altitude by descending into the valley (the altitude there is about 2,700 meters). By the way, at the end of the day I still caught a “miner”, it resulted in a wild headache and was very unpleasant. Only the pills brought from the homeland saved me.

As I wrote above, there is little point in traveling around the Valley without an excursion (at least for the first time), so we agreed with a local Russian-speaking guide Olga, who organized an excellent trip for us and accompanied us on it all day. We started straight from Cusco airport, made a short detour to the city center (to drop off our suitcases at the hotel, due to a strict limit on the size of luggage that can be carried on the train to Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu), and then left for Valley.

Having driven literally 15-20 minutes from Cusco, we met a herd of grazing alpacas. These are very cute animals that look like llamas, but, unlike them, they live only in Peru, in the highlands.

Our first stop was planned in the village of Chinchero, where, among other things, there was a tourist-oriented farm specializing in raising the aforementioned alpacas.

A tourist village is just a tourist village, but everything was well organized, the children liked it. The women showed the process of creating things from alpaca wool from the very beginning, from the moment of shearing to the moment of dyeing and drying.

Alpacas, of course, can be fed:

Entrance to the village is free, but you are expected to buy souvenirs. By the way, the prices for souvenirs here were one and a half to two times lower than in Cusco, so you can safely buy everything (albeit after haggling).

One of the minuses of Chinchero is the altitude of 3750 meters above sea level - this is the highest point we were at on this trip, and it was very difficult when we were not used to it. We barely climbed the steps... But further it was easier, since the road led to the lower reaches of the valley.

It is assumed that in the past Chinchero was the country residence of the Inca Tupac Yupanqui. In the 15th century AD Inca temples, baths, terraces and a large royal palace were built here.

Today, the main attractions of Chinchero are the remains of this ancient Incan palace, a colonial church built by the Spaniards on Inca stone foundations, as well as immaculate Incan terraces and a colorful local fair.

Various examples of masonry are clearly visible - here is the familiar ancient polygonal masonry (not related to the Incas), and Inca folk art, and the contribution of the Spaniards:

Where would we be without traditional toys at the fair (of course, everything is aimed at tourists, but there are also some very interesting things):

This is the beauty all around:

By the way, children tolerate elevation changes much easier than adults - neither Yura nor Sasha had any problems with this at all during the entire move:

After walking around Chinchero, we headed to the circular terraces of Moray (it turned out to be about 30 minutes by car). On the way we took photos with a peasant woman herding alpacas.

Moray is located about 50 km northwest of Cusco and is a large depression in which a series of concentric terraces are built, similar to an ancient Greek amphitheater. The largest of the terraces are in the center, very large in size and descend to a depth of approximately 150 meters.

There are many stairs leading to the center of the cavity, which look like the spokes of one large wheel. Previously, tourists were allowed up these stairs directly to the terraces, but now the passage is closed to preserve the monument. The people in the following video give an idea of ​​the grandeur and size of the structure:

An interesting feature of the place is its excellent drainage system, thanks to which water never accumulates in the depression. The lowest level drains water perfectly and never floods, even after continuous rain, presumably due to underground channels.

Scientists do not have a consensus on the purpose of this place, but most are inclined to believe that it was something like an agricultural laboratory. Due to the difference in altitude, the temperature at different levels of the terraces differs by 15 degrees, which makes it possible to observe the specific growth of different plants under different conditions, as well as to adapt plants from the coastal climate to the Andean climate.

The next point of our trip through the Sacred Valley of the Incas was the “salt terraces” of Salinas de Maras in the city of Maras. This is an ancient city in Peru as part of the Urubamba province (let me remind you, this is the name of the river that was considered sacred by the Incas and which flows from Cusco to Machu Picchu).

Salt mining on these terraces began in the Inca era, and technologically almost nothing has changed here since then. The work is very hard, very low paid, based solely on manual labor.

The ancient complex for the production of salt is located on a mountain slope and is a cascade of artificial pools-terraces with an average area of ​​​​each of about 5 square meters and a side height of about 3 cm. In total, there are more than 3,000 “salt baths” on the territory of the complex.

All these baths are fed from the underground salty spring of Coripuhio, which flows like a small stream from the depths of the mountain. We checked it personally - the water from the source is very salty - much saltier than in any sea. The Incas figured out how to rationally use this stream to extract salt, which was quite expensive at that time.

Production is based on the evaporation of water from a brine solution. To do this, the water flow of a stream going down the slope is directed into an extensive system of artificial channels so that the water is evenly distributed among small stone reservoirs located in a cascade.

In the next video, this stream is just visible - it is very small, and it is simply amazing how all this huge number of salt baths feeds from it:

When each salt bath is filled with water from the source, the channel is blocked, and the mineral solution gradually evaporates under the rays of the sun, leaving salt crystals in the tanks. This process takes about a month, resulting in a 10 cm layer of finished product at the bottom of each bath.

First, a crust like this forms on the surface, then the entire pool is filled with crystals:

Within 2-3 days, collectors collect all the salt and prepare the pool for a new cycle. The salt is raked into pyramids, dried and packed into bags. About 120-150 kg of salt is collected from each pool per month.

Interestingly, salt varies in quality: the most valuable (first-class) is the whitest, which is collected from the upper layers. In the lower layers there is low grade salt.

Overall I really liked the place. The shops along the road to the salt terraces are full of souvenirs related to salt (for example, salted chocolate), and the prices were lower than in Cusco.

After visiting the salt terraces, our guides advised us to stop for lunch at a restaurant in the city of Urubamba. The restaurant turned out to be touristy, I don’t like them and, to be honest, I would recommend choosing another place (just literally any other one that Google suggests, for example). I didn't really like the food, but the place itself was nice - right on the banks of the Urubamba River, with grazing llamas that you could take photos with:

And this is Yura sitting on the steps of the restaurant with his new pet “kuy” (that’s what the Peruvians call our guinea pigs). For those who don’t know, this is one of the national dishes of this country:

After lunch and rest, we headed to the final point of our journey through the Valley of the Incas - the city of Ollantaytambo, from where our train to Aguas Calientes departed in the evening. While planning the route, I read many reviews that Ollantaytambo is a completely useless point, which is notable only for the fact that from there you can take a train to Machu Picchu. However, the reality turned out to be completely different - what we saw in Ollantaytambo, perhaps, made one of the strongest impressions on us at that time.

Ollantaytambo is located at an altitude of 2800 meters above sea level and is one of the few Inca cities where people still live, and many streets and houses still bear ancient Indian names. In general, the city is very pleasant, there are many cafes and restaurants and in general it is quite cozy. Unfortunately, it was here that I was “covered by a miner”, so I almost didn’t take photos or videos.

The city is notable for its large complex (fortress), which is one of the most amazing structures we encountered on this trip.

The lower part of the complex is the remains of Inca buildings:

The fortress itself is located on the so-called. Temple Hill, quite high - getting there, especially at high altitude, was not so easy:

From the top of Temple Hill these are the views:

Opposite the fortress there is a mountain with buildings, apparently for economic purposes (some kind of warehouses). Pay attention to the profile of the Indian in the rock, which is quite noticeable (located slightly to the right of the center of the frame, on the same level as the building located on the mountain to the right):

According to the official version, the city and fortress were founded by the legendary Incan leader Pachacuti. However, there are many facts proving that the fortress in Ollantaytambo was built in the so-called “antediluvian” times - antediluvian in the literal sense, i.e. before the flood, which occurred approximately 10,500 BC. The fact of the flood (caused, apparently, by the fall of a large meteorite to Earth, which provoked a movement of the earth’s crust and a global catastrophe on a planetary scale) is not denied even by official historians. You can read more about this in the article "The Flood Myth: Legends and Reality" by Andrey Sklyarov.

So, traces of the destruction of the Ollantaytambo fortress show that the ancient buildings were demolished and scattered throughout the complex by a powerful stream of water that came down from above, from the mountains, despite the fact that the city is located several hundred kilometers from the Pacific coast. Apparently, it was a fading wave of a huge tsunami, the height of which near the coast was about 2-3 km, but gradually faded as it moved inland. This means that the fortress was built before 10,500 BC.

The fortress clearly distinguishes between different types of masonry. Quite primitive, uncomplicated, with a lot of solution - a newer one (authored, in fact, by the Incas):

With perfectly processed stones, laid end-to-end without mortar so that even paper cannot be inserted - more ancient. This masonry is most likely many thousands of years old, it has survived many earthquakes, so the cracks between the stones on the left should not be confusing - pay attention to the quality of the joining of other stones:

At the top of the Temple Mount are the remains of the Sun Temple, which amazes with its stone processing technique. It was after seeing these megaliths that I was finally convinced that this was the work of some ancient civilization that had nothing in common with the technically quite primitive Inca culture:

The front side of the Temple consists of huge monoliths, the weight of which reaches 50 tons. The stone material is pink porphyry, similar in strength to granite. The six monoliths are a single structure tightly joined together.

Up close, the quality of processing of these blocks is simply amazing - it is, in principle, impossible without highly developed machine production. An excursion into this topic, carried out after returning to Russia, showed that we can now process such stones only with stationary equipment, and they need not only to be processed, but also to be lifted up a high mountain (and before that, the blocks had to be dragged from the quarries , located a few kilometers down in the Valley).

Summarizing this busy day, I can say that a trip to Peru without visiting the Sacred Valley of the Incas, of course, becomes incomplete in many ways, even if you get to Machu Picchu. The Valley of the Incas contains many secrets of different civilizations and cultures, which can rarely be found in such concentration. And finally, it’s just very beautiful.

Read my other publications about amazing Peru:

Cusco - the ancient capital of the Incas- a story about the central city of the Sacred Valley of the Incas, the ancient capital of this people. One of the most wonderful places in Peru.

How to get to Machu Picchu without going crazy— the name speaks for itself :). The publication describes in detail the logistics to Machu Picchu as of May 2018.

Machu Picchu - truth and fiction about the legendary city of the Incas- a story about a visit to Peru's most famous landmark in May 2018, which is accompanied by interesting and little-known details from the history of Machu Picchu

Gods who created ancient civilizations- detailed material about how the entire version of human history that we are told in schools has nothing in common with what actually happened. Amazing facts and evidence that I personally managed to see and touch.

Lima - a city of contrasts— a story about one day spent in the capital of Peru, Lima.

Three of the most striking national dishes of Peru- I’m willing to bet that one of them is familiar to you and you’ve tried it all, you associated the second with a completely different country, and about the third, you didn’t even suspect that it could be eaten.

16.06.2014 11:52

Sacred Valley

Urubamba Valley (another name is ) is a valley formed by the Urubamba River in the Peruvian Andes near the city of Cusco and the ruins of Machu Picchu. Belongs to the modern province of Cusco. During times the Incas were a sacred place.

Going to the Urubamba Valley, I knew absolutely nothing about the history and culture of the Incas. Well, except this. Now, after I went there, looked with my eyes and touched with my hands, I can say with confidence that now I don’t know much more.

Having visited Sacred Valley, everyone probably returns from there as a believer - it doesn’t matter who believes in what, but for me personally, due to the lack of knowledge, it is much easier to believe in Christ and Viracocha than in the fact that all these structures were erected by a civilization that did not know the wheel and writing ...

In the morning the bus docked at the bus station in Cusco. It took us half an hour to sort out tickets for subsequent evacuation from here in a couple of days, then we took a taxi to the center, where we dropped off excess things at the hostel that Bruce (our friend from Lima) recommended to us.

Now we need to figure out what to do next. In the evening we need to be in , in order to go from there by train to Aguas Calientes, a town at the foot of Machu Picchu.
Eduardo, the owner of the hostel, advised us to go to the next square after Plaza Armas and get on a tourist bus.
There were no buses on the square. The first two travel agencies they came across said that all the buses left half an hour ago - at 9 am. In the third office they said that everything would be fine now, the man made several phone calls, spread his arms and said reassuringly - mañana.

In general, we are done with the excursions, now we need to look for some kind of minibus or, in extreme cases, a taxi. But, as always happens, a huckster jumped out from around the corner and promised to arrange everything, took us to the next square, pushed us onto a bus with schoolchildren, took the money and ran away.
The schoolchildren were furious and screaming, it was unclear, the tour guide on the bus spoke only Spanish or sometimes English, and we had absolutely no idea where they were taking us, but we did not stand still, and this was encouraging)

The first two dozen kilometers are markets. All roadside villages sell quilted jackets made from llama and alpaca and all sorts of other useful and not so souvenirs. Every excursion bus must stop at one of these markets. At the same time, tourists are told a sad story that the village where the market stands was recently destroyed by an earthquake or washed away by the waters of Urubamba.

The next stop is a jewelry store where they sell real Inca silver. The real thing here is nowhere else in general.
We stopped and went out into the street - a dusty roadside, mountains on either side, devastation - well, just like our Caucasus.

Peruvians are either fighting corruption, or vice versa, but you cannot buy tickets at the entrance to many archaeological complexes, and where you can, they sell “passes” for 5-10 places scattered throughout the valley. Somewhere in the middle of the road the bus stops, on a cliff there is a booth where they sell season tickets. A new ticket sales office is being built nearby.
It’s no worse here than in Tajikistan :)

Sacred Valley of the Incas, Peru

But once you move away from modern civilization, the real Peru begins, the thing for which it’s worth coming here.
We in the Sacred Valley.

We bought the tickets - now touch the stones. We are going to the archaeological complex of Pisak.

The Incas grew corn and potatoes on the terraces, and lived in a city above the terraces.

We had an excursion for local schoolchildren, who don’t need all these ruins for nothing - well, there are stones piled here, well, they have been lying there for a thousand years and will lie there for the same amount of time. Most of the time, the guide was trying to gather all her monkeys together so that they wouldn’t get lost and fall into the abyss, so little adequate information came from her. Well, okay, my task is to touch the stones)
What do we know about Peruvian ruins? The fact that the Incas built in such a way that not only a knife blade would not fit between the stones, but also a drop of water would not leak through. Let's go check it out.

Remains of the house. The wall is propped up with a wooden stick. The building was so-so, but it stood for 500 years, which is probably cool. Not every modern building will have at least one wall left after five centuries, especially in a seismically active zone.

For some reason, local residents made windows in the walls, and they were blocked through one. Often buildings were adjacent to the rocks with one wall. These walls also had the same niche windows.

If the lower levels of the buildings are still somehow normally built, then the upper ones are assembled from a mixture of shit and straw. But even this mixture lasts for centuries, washed by showers, like now!

But I’m not discouraged, I need cool masonry. And now, something interesting. One terrace is made of untreated cobblestones on mortar, and the floor above is good.

The Inca civilization developed in exactly the same way as modern Muscovite civilization. For example, at first architects were involved in construction, and when everything broke, guest workers repaired it. Not bad.

And here's the coolest part. Some houses are built from perfectly processed and fitted stones. This is the kind of masonry they tell us about on TV, and they poke knives here, showing the skill of the builders.

The rain is getting heavier, the clay paths are becoming very slippery, the cliffs are becoming more and more dangerous, we are slowly returning to the bus.
In addition to houses, the Incas also built steep stone water pipes. The “pipes”, starting somewhere in the river, are hidden in the ground and come to the surface in the form of washbasin fountains. In the photo in front of them, the grass on the terrace is trampled.

These are the things. There is a hole in the bath where the water goes, again somewhere underground.

We didn’t have time to see a lot here and moved on. We stopped for lunch in the town of Urubamba. Hello civilization. Expensive disgusting food, a dump, in general - modern Peru.

(Spanish, Quechua Ullantaytampu) is a modern city and archaeological site of the Inca culture in southern Peru, 60 km northwest of the city of Cusco. Located at an altitude of 2792 meters above sea level in the district in Sacred Valley of the Incas.

And now we will go to Oyantaytambo city. This is a place that I really got into.
Those who have not been there will probably not understand my admiration, and four dozen photographs of stones will seem very boring. If so, scroll through)

Welcome . We are at an altitude of about 3000 meters and now we will climb to the terraces.

Well, let's start with getting acquainted. Viracocha is depicted on the rock opposite the terraces. Viracocha is the creator of the world, the father of the Sun and the Moon, the god who erases civilizations from the face of the Earth and revives them anew.
To imagine the size of the “portrait”, pay attention to the small people on the right side of the frame.

And one more profile - Inka. On some date of some month, the sun should come out of his eye.

We met the main inhabitants of the area, now we will walk and study the buildings.
This obscure structure is said to be a granary. Three-stage barn with windows. If you pour grain into the upper windows, then, after filling the room, it begins to pour into the next compartment. Well, for current needs, you need to pick it up from the lowest window. How it really was - I don't know. Maybe I came up with it all myself?)

We did not have a tour of the complex. The guide said that this was a ritual center, where they prayed and grew corn on the terraces. I set a meeting time and let everyone go for a walk.

We climbed to the very top. I want to sleep after the bus, and the altitude. In general, it’s hard to climb the stairs, and there are crowds of people around, who are almost invisible in the photo)

Everything is much more prominent and monumental than in Pisak. The walls of the terraces are made of powerful, processed and fitted stones.

Find a place that the Incas repaired as best they could, because they didn’t know how to build it the way it was originally built.

The official version of history says that all of this (and maybe not all, but the main structures) was built in the last hundred years of the Inca Empire, and the most monumental buildings were not completed at all, because the Spaniards came, took everything away and divided what they could to break, they broke, and what they couldn’t, they left as is.

Sacred Valley of the Incas Peru

In addition to the official history, there are also a million alternative versions. The most popular “neovangologist” in Russia (Vangology is the science of predicting the past, author’s note) is the vice-president of the League of Patient Advocates Andrei Sklyarov. In his films and other publications, he predicts many options for the development of the past, which can be treated differently, but I liked his work because he points out some things that most tourists do not notice and do not pay attention to. Maybe this is all nonsense, of course, but it’s much more interesting)

The main idea of ​​the alternative theory is that the Incas did not build anything monumental, and they got all this goodness from the gods, aliens and other dinosaurs.

I listened to all these versions with a smile, and then, when I wandered around and touched the stones, I began to believe that the Incas had nothing to do with it, that they got it all from someone else. Maybe not from the gods, but, perhaps, from some previous civilization, which for some reason cut itself out and did not leave behind the basic design of the iPhone. Subsequent civilizations have to pray to these ruins and repair them as best they can.

For example, the wall came apart and a hole was filled in. You will say that it was the modern Peruvians who covered it up, and not the Incas, because during the Incas this wall was just built. Well, it’s hard to argue, perhaps so.

Here is the corner of the wall, in which a stone “not from here” is clearly built - there is untreated cobblestone around it, but this pebble is of a different type, and is of high quality.
Well, something fell out of the wall here because of the earthquakes, and I suppose the crooked restorers also installed it recently. Anything is possible.

Ollantaytambo, Peru

Looking at these walls, I believe that they were built by small, hardworking Incas, but they built them in the same way as you built houses from blocks as a child. That is, they got ready-made cubes from somewhere, and they laid them out as best they could, and filled the voids with their main building material - pebbles with poop.

After the arrival of the Spaniards, people became interested in these ruins only recently, that is, none of the modern people built these walls. If you believe textbooks and Wikipedia, the Incas did not complete the complex, but abandoned construction because of the war. The question arises - where does such hack work come from? Why grind and drag these megaliths from God knows where in order to lay them out so crookedly?
Do you want to say - “you yourself should try to build better from such monstrous stones!” So, I can’t, but someone else could before!

And I can’t describe this work in a single word, because I don’t know anything more superlative than “ideal.”

Ollantaytambo Photos

So, scroll up again to the vertical photo and compare the size of the blocks with the size of the people.
Now go back and think about how you can treat the surfaces where the stones come into contact with each other. The complex contains many different types of masonry, different sizes of blocks, etc., but I can’t figure out how all these stones were adjusted one to one on an industrial scale. Maybe you know?

It seems like a small thing, but try it.

The wall was also bent.

HOW??77

The wall is a little similar to our modern ones, but look, each block is unique. This is a puzzle. You can assemble it by placing each “piece” in its place.
That’s why the Incas created those same walls that I talked about above, where they had to put rubbish between the blocks - the Indians simply didn’t know what to put where, they had a construction set, but no drawing.

Well, engineers, have your brains started boiling? And now another fashionable wall.

What is the size of the pebbles?

The same wall, side view.

It is believed that these inserts between the magalites are made so that during thermal expansion, as well as during earthquakes, the wall does not crack.

And in this photo, a group of tourists is trying to see somewhere over the horizon the place where they brought construction materials from. The quarry was located about five kilometers from here.

Let's give our brain a little rest. Commercial break.
This is a stone. He is not even a piece of a “puzzle”, he is not processed, but all excursions stop before him. Tourists are usually told only the official version of the Incas’ construction of megalithic complexes - like they took wooden hammers, processed the stones, harnessed them and built them, but using the example of this stone, even the right guides talk about the “plasticine” technology for processing the rock.

In general, it was like this. The stone (the whole or its surface layer) under the influence of forces unknown to us became soft, like plasticine. The Incas (?) took a “knife” and cut off the irregularities, getting a perfectly smooth surface. But, while processing this cobblestone, the worker’s phone rang, he got distracted, lost his mind, and the stone froze again. As a result, the edge of the future brick was not processed to the end; the tool had to be pulled out and the workpiece left cut.
Believe it or not, make up your own legend)

Let's return to our blocks. Scientists claim that the complex was not originally completed, and tour guides cite this brick lying on the ramp as proof in order to drag it to the installation site.

On a foundation similar in design lies a block that does not at all look like a slab installed at ground level - it may be a floor beam or a gate element, I don’t know.

Neo-Vangists believe that the Incas tried to adapt the blocks, but the most they could do was to pile them on these pedestals.

“Patient advocates” are confident that the temple was completed many thousands of years ago, but was destroyed as a result of a cataclysm - a global flood, for example. Therefore, the blocks on the territory of the complex do not lie neatly, but are scattered, as if after an explosion.

Some lie on terraces located below the main site, while others hang over the city.

And the part that most likely should have been the covering of the main gate of the temple generally lies on the lowest platform, although, according to scientists, the blocks were brought from the quarry from a completely different direction. That is, in order to deliver this block here, it was necessary to waste a lot of effort, and then also drag it along the stairs along the terraces to the upper floor.

It seems to me a completely logical explanation for the destruction of the temple as a result of a cataclysm. Here it stands - one wall is adjacent to the rock, and the other was facing the terraces. Something went wrong and she fell down with a roar.

Along with the wall, the engineers also died as a result of the cataclysm, and no one now knows how it was built or how to repair it.

I found a place where you can stick a knife blade between the blocks) You can’t imagine how cool these stones are.

In some places there are recesses for reinforcement.

During the time that the guide allocated to us, I never touched all this beauty, so we returned to the bus, took our things from there, sent the schoolchildren further along the route, and returned to the complex and wandered around here until it closed.

the ancient capital of the Incas Cusco and the Sacred Valley...

Without any special incidents, a brand new Boeing took us to Cusco. The city is located in a valley at an altitude of 3500 meters. Out of habit, being at such a height is not entirely comfortable, although the height is not enough for real mountain sickness. Before the arrival of the Spaniards, this was the capital of the Inca state. The city had many temples, which were later destroyed by the Spaniards. Catholic churches were built on the site of the largest ones.

This is the preserved foundation of the former Sun Temple - the main temple of the city. On the field in front of it, according to the Spaniards, a garden of life-size golden trees was laid out... Now there is a Catholic cathedral on this site.
Previously, it was believed that, apart from the foundation, nothing remained of the ancient temple. But then, during an earthquake, some of the walls of the church collapsed. And behind them the surviving walls of the temples of the Sun, Moon and Lightning were discovered. Now they are open and preserved. They can be seen.

In the center of the churchyard is a sacred stone. The Incas believed that the Sun drank water from this cup in the morning. Previously, this bowl was also covered with gold.

It was no coincidence that the ancient walls withstood the earthquake that destroyed the newer buildings of the Spaniards. The Incas were very skilled builders. Their buildings are distinguished by high mathematical accuracy.

The ancient masonry turned out to be much stronger, despite the fact that the Incas did not use mortar, but fitted the stones “dry”, using special grooves-locks for strength.

In some places, instead of laying ancient stones with bricks, they were simply plastered and painted. Part of the painting has been left here so that you can see what the “camouflaged” walls looked like during the time of the conquistadors.

The Incas had no equal in stone processing. And this despite the fact that they did not know how to process metals stronger than copper and gold. All work was carried out stone by stone.

All buildings in all found Inca cities have walls that widen towards the base at an angle of 15 degrees. This gives them high resistance to earthquakes.

By decree of the mayor's office, all houses in Cusco are required to be covered with tiles! A wonderful solution that has a very beneficial effect on the appearance of the city!

Cusco at night is very cozy. The guides assured us that it was completely safe here and we could safely walk around the city.

The city was very well lit, all the buildings were illuminated with spotlights and very picturesque.

The homely European, Spanish flavor was even pleasant after the alien buildings of the Incas. Perhaps it is this contrast that fuels opinions about the influence of some alien civilizations on them...

Pass on the way to the Sacred Valley of the Incas. There was a sentinel fortress here that served as a checkpoint at the entrance to Cusco. It was possible to get here only by invitation. In general, the peoples who are now called Incas called themselves differently. These were mainly Quechua tribes. And the Incas are only rulers, an analogue of the Pharaohs, who were considered the descendants of the sun. There were 9 of them in total...

Sacsayhuaman is an Inca temple complex, for a long time, mistakenly considered the ruins of a fortress... It was built, according to legend, even during the time of the first Inca, from huge stone blocks, larger than human height, weighing up to 200 tons, it is not clear how they were delivered to such a height above the city ...

It was a little bad at the pass. Almost 4 thousand meters... And the Peruvians still successfully cultivate the fields here! But, nevertheless, the tales about people falling dead and about terribly thin air that frightened us in Moscow turned out to be greatly exaggerated.

On the way to the Valley, we were taken to a small farm where llamas are bred. Good-natured peasants in national hats offer to feed hay to the llamas and buy woolen items in the store.

There are 4 species of llama in Peru. These are, in fact, llamas, guanacos, alpacas and vicunas. All these, oddly enough, are varieties of camel. Llamas and guanaques are the largest, alpacas are the woolliest...

Vicuna is the smallest, shy and practically not domesticated.

Urubamba, Sacred Valley of the Incas. In ancient times, the Inca Empire began to grow around this place.

Ollantaytambo fortress on its slopes.

Within the walls of this fortress, according to legend, the rebellious general Ollantay hid for a long time from the wrath of the Inca, who kidnapped his daughter and later became the greatest conqueror of the Inca empire and expanded its borders to almost a third of the continent.

Sacred Valley of the Incas. Travel notes from Peru April 15th, 2015

Blondes and brunettes, shy women, coquettes and harsh weathered men! I am sharing with you travel notes about the Sacred Valley of the Incas in Peru. I write them on the go: in tuk-tuks and in groups, in markets and restaurants, and post them every day on Instagram.
How to get to Machu Picchu cheaply, the phenomenon of leggings in South America and what is “sweet tsemik”?

It's time to become truly famous. How can you do this on Instagram without food? No way! It's like show business without a bed. So, a fruit salad for $1.3 at the market in the Urubamba metropolis. Everything is organic, farm grown and gluten free. The fruits are collected during the full moon on the slopes of the foggy Andes by specially trained dwarfs.

Pisak is a psychedelic valley. There are many yoga schools, shamans and enlightened adepts with glassy eyes. A huge part of tourists travel to Peru specifically for shamanic rituals. There are two of them: ayahuasca and san pedro. You could read about San Pedro from Castaneda. His books come with age 16, torment, unwashed long hair and a torn Aria T-shirt. And ayahuasca is a local psychedelic that temporarily blocks the liver. The substance should lead the test subject to enlightenment and answers to important questions. Bad trips happen too. In the Sacred Valley, all this shamanism has turned into a very profitable business. I am very far from drugs and esotericism, so I am not going to participate in this and, moreover, I will not organize ceremonies for our groups. But if you can’t imagine your life without dreadlocks, hashish and orange trousers, and in India you are wanted, Peru is waiting!

You can climb the mountain to the Pisak fortress on foot in two hours (a very hellish undertaking) or take a taxi for $7. Previously, I would definitely go on an expedition. But I feel like I’m already getting old. The old rage is gone. I’m not ready to chop for seven dollars. And once, without hesitation, I spent the night at the airport to save five.
But we went down on foot and saw crazy landscapes along the way. And they looked with sympathy at the people climbing up. In their eyes there was despair, decay and awareness of the meaninglessness of what was happening. I think the pilgrims went down by taxi.

I go up to the observation deck, and there is a lonely concert without spectators. Some say Pisac is better than Machu Picchu. It’s strange that organized tours almost never visit it. Although the town is only 40 minutes from Cusco. We'll compare these two places soon.

If you look closely, you can see me in the photo wearing a discreet T-shirt with the words “Peru” written on it. I think about the fate of ancient civilizations and why we didn’t take sandwiches to the mountain. Thoughts about lunch were more persistent.

There are many jugglers roaming around South America. They earn extra money on the road: they stand in front of cars at intersections and entertain drivers. I saw them in both Bolivia and Argentina. And this guy is just playing with the local children. For me, the coolest thing about traveling is the real life of people, and not the tourist popular market, endless temples and views from glossy postcards.

Europeans who travel here have a lot of iPhones. Although there is clearly an opportunity to buy a fifth or sixth. They have a quality that is not particularly characteristic of us yet. People from first world countries take useful functionality from things and are indifferent to the status component. The legions of small cars in Europe like the Peugeot 207 are further proof. It is not customary to show off wealth. In our country, modesty is synonymous with poverty. Therefore, it is quite normal to buy a Range Rover as collateral for a tiny apartment on the outskirts in which you live with three children. Not to be, but to appear is the main motto of the society of new and fast money.
We already have a layer of wealthy people with different values. But there is still a lot of merchant revelry “for all the money” and like the last time.

Meet the Peruvian tuk-tuk. It differs from its Indian counterparts in its futuristic design and the presence of doors. For those who don’t know, this is a motorcycle with an attached body. I met them in India, Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines and somewhere else, I don’t remember now. The Philippine tricycles are most similar to the Peruvian version. But in Peru it looks more solid - like a real sports car. Tuk-tuks are always cheaper than regular taxis. I know several stories about how guys in India bought this rattletrap for $1000 and traveled around the country on it for months.

A funny hour and a half in the minibus, and we arrived in Urubamba. In Argentina, travel between cities often took 25 hours. I know that you, like me, have long dreamed of this metropolis. For many years, sunny Urubamba adorned my school diary, and I decorated the walls of my cold den with its posters. And here I am! We go to see the Salinas salt mines (pictured) and the Inca agricultural laboratory of Moray. And to you - sweet tsemik and good day!
P.S. “Sweet Tsemik” is an alarming SMS that I once received from a girl with large breasts. I didn't see her again.

Moray - Incan agricultural laboratory. In this bucolic valley, Michurin’s predecessors conducted their ruthless experiments: they crossed arugula with basil, and tried to grow broccoli with the taste of spinach. At each level of the terraces there is a different soil and microclimate. This is where my knowledge of agriculture ends. I immediately remember Mark Twain's story "How I Edited an Agricultural Newspaper."

In Asia, all backpacker girls wear a simple uniform: flip-flops, shorts, a stretched T-shirt (sometimes two at once). In South America it is somewhat cooler (I am very tolerant), and for some reason most travelers travel around the cities in tights. At the same time, they are not at all shy about the legendary Latin American machos. As a man and an esthete, I support the new trend. But it would be more humane if leggings were not sold to everyone.

We moved to Olantaytambo. It took me about six months to learn this name.

Locals travel around the Sacred Valley in fairly comfortable minibuses. And we are with them: $0.5 for a 30-minute move. I haven’t seen any scary Asian-style local basses yet. In general, even Bolivia and Peru are significantly inferior to Asia in terms of color. But by nature, South America is much steeper (not counting the Himalayas).

Unpronounceable Olantaytambo turned out to be a cool medieval town built by the Incas. There are narrow streets paved with paving stones with canals through which clear (!) water gurgles. All this stuff comes from the Incas, 13th century. One hundred hotels and two hundred latte macchiato restaurants are a legacy of a later era.

We finally got to Agua Calientes (hot waters in our opinion). It was an epic trip. First, three hours on a bus along a hellish serpentine road - nowhere on the Bolivian Death Road. There were no seats, so Yulia sat on a stool, and I sat on the floor on a backpack. Then another 40 minutes along the road a la the Himalayas. And one more taxi, and then 2:45 walking along the rails, at the end - in the dark. Girls, who will go to the Girls in travel Peru bachelorette party - don’t worry, we’ll go by train. There are simply two options - a train for $100 and 4 hours or $11 and hemorrhoids for the whole day. And entrance to Machu Picchu is $55. And the bus up and down is another $24. They squeeze the maximum out of workers! But nothing will stop us. Tomorrow another dream will come true.

Machu Picchu lived up to expectations: a cosmic place. Especially early in the morning, when the clouds either cover the city or move away, and the bulk of the tourists have not yet arrived. I thought it would take all day, but we finished it in 5 hours. True, we did not climb any of the mountains (there are three types of tickets with different levels of access). Everything is well organized. It would have been very difficult to climb up on foot, we were happy that we went by bus. There are a lot of people, of course, and it’s not the season yet. For some reason, the llamas did not show up for work, and Yulina’s dreams of a photo shoot with a llama overlooking MP were dashed.

When I looked at the photos from Machu Picchu, I imagined a giant queue for the only location for shooting. It turned out that there are a million options, many terraces, and everyone can fit in somewhere. Admiring the lost city from above is much cooler than wandering around it. There's nothing particularly photogenic there. If these ruins had been in a less picturesque place, I’m afraid they would not have become such an icon. But everything together creates an unreal impression!

The Spanish colonialists knew nothing about Machu Picchu. Having climbed into this distance, you understand why. In 1911, it was discovered quite accidentally by amateur researcher Hiram Bingham. I read about another lost city of the Incas, a mini Machu Picchu. You have to go to him on a 4-day trek, which significantly reduces the number of visitors.

After Machu Picchu, instead of resting, we