After weeks of overnight buses, pre-dawn flights, and rushing from one Peruvian tourist attraction to another, we were exhausted. We locked ourselves in our Cuzco hotel that had free wireless internet and crunched through a long list of to-do items. We left the room only long enough to navigate the gauntlet of street vendors, beggars, and lost tourists to reach our favorite pizzeria.
Once we had sufficiently caught up on business items, we retreated into the Sacred Valley, only about an hour outside of Cuzco but full of towns that are far less touristy. We visited the Inca ruins of Pisac, which are much larger than Machu Picchu but lack the internationally-recognized name and therefore only receive a couple dozen tourists a day instead of thousands. Chris was even able to negotiate a significant discount on the entrance fee by simply saying in Spanish, “no, it’s too expensive” over and over again.
One night, the country lodge we wanted to stay in was booked, so we wandered the rural dirt roads until we came upon a home that looked like it might have some guest rooms. The family was a little surprised when we asked for a room but quickly prepared a fresh bed for us and welcomed us into their home.
Although we didn’t make it to the big name sites of Lake Titicaca or Colca Canyon, our mini side trip into the Sacred Valley was a nice relaxing way to end our time in Peru.
A woman carefully planting a long stick with a red bag on the tip outside of her home, signifying that she has completed brewing a batch of chicha (home-brew beer that often includes human saliva as an ingredient) and is offering it for sale.
The impressive salt pools of Salinas, where salt is made by evaporating water from a salty underground stream.
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