Sacred Valley- Pisac

Thanks to Nooner, our journey through the Sacred Valley was perfectly planned out and fantastic! We left Cusco early in the morning Friday and took a little bus to Pisac, about an hour and a half outside of Cusco. We recommend leaving your luggage in Cusco and taking a backpack for the days in the sacred valley-machu picchu. The buses to get out here are small and i´m not sure how our luggage would have fit. we barely fit the backpacks. And it feels great not to lug around a suitcase. Anyways, the ride into the valley is gorgeous. Right before you get to Pisac you drop into this valley with the beautiful green hills all around you. It really does feel magical. Pisac is a small town in the valley by the river. If you leave from Cusco early you´ll get to Pisac and be able to enjoy it without tourists. We got there around 930 am, which was perfect. The ruins there are the Inca Citadel. You can do the roughly 4km hike up, but we took a cab to the top to save time. And actually it was good bec. he took us all the way to the very top where the tours usually end, so no one was there. The ruins are huge so definitely budget about 2 to 3 hours. The terracing in the land there is stunning and the view of the surrounding hills and valleys is spectacular. We had almost the entire ruins to ourselves until we got to the end (or really the beginning of them) when we started to hit tour groups. The weather changes constantly s othat was pretty funny. One moment you´re burning up and the next moment it rains for about 5 minutes (just enough time for you to put on your coat and the rain to stop). I convinced Steph to do the 4km hike back down to the city. She was a trooper since she´s battling a nasty cold. And the hike was kind of hard. Because of the terracing in the land there are pretty much vertical steps scattered here and there and then little foot paths, mainly to prevent erosion. So it´s a steep steep hike down that will do wonders for your calfs. :) But the hike down is well worth it! the views are amazing and we hiked the whole thing by ourselves. At one point we came around a turn into this little valley surrounded by the terracing and it was just amazing. one of those moments where you feel so so lucky to travel. After about 2 hours of hiking down we came into the town behind the church and into a little market. Exhausted we sought refuge in the quaint Mullu cafe, right off the market. It´s very cute and you can sit on these great cushions on the floor while you eat, which felt great after all the hiking. We had fantastic fruit smoothie and I had a wonderful Sopa de quinea (not guinea pig) which was all veggies and cilantro in this great broth. totally hit the spot. After resting up some we hopped on a bus to Urubamba, about an hour away and then caught a cab to Ollantytambo. I would HIGHLY recommend stopping in Pisac on your way to Machu Picchu. It´s a very sweet, very quaint town that is really really beautiful.