Today, we went on a private day trip by car to the Sacred Valley and visited the Inca archaeological sites Pisaq, Moray, and Ollantaytambo, along with the Maras salt mines. Before we reached the Sacred Valley, though, the guide had us stop at a local alpaca and llama farm. While he said that the stop was for Kaia, I was actually also happy to see more local animals a bit more up close and personal. In addition to alpacas and llamas, we also saw alpaca and llama mixes, vicunas, huanacos, and Andean condors (who were rescued). I didn’t realize that alpacas and llamas actually mated, but I suppose this makes sense given that they are all from the camelid family and are mostly just of different sizes.
The four-legged animals were free to roam as they wished, but the Andean condors were in massive, tall cages; I was not expecting to see any birds of prey on this visit, but it is actually the part of this farm visit that surprised me the most. I’d never seen a bird with this large of a wing span in real life before. I’ve seen plenty of ostriches at zoos and even ostrich farms (I suppose ostriches are considered the largest living birds?), but there was really nothing like the experience of seeing an Andean condor up close in real life; I felt a bit spooked and backed up a little as it got close to me, even behind its cage. I could feel myself holding my breath as they moved around and seemed completely fine with us watching them. Andean condors are large birds of prey and feed on large, dead carcasses — the bigger, the better for them. With a wing span that be as wide as 3.3 meters / over 10.5 feet, to say they are massive feels like a bit of an understatement. There were three condors at the farm in the same large cage, and every time they spread their wings (many times!), I could feel myself shiver a little. I would not want to mess with a condor. And while I was freaked out a little by the sheer size of these birds of prey, Pookster was not fazed in the slightest. While she seemed bored of the alpacas and huanacos after a while, she was deeply interested in these large, graceful condors; Pookster wouldn’t take her eyes off them. She kept on trying to get closer and closer to them (as our guide advised that we have her back up because the condors could easily bite her fingers if we weren’t careful). She waved and smiled at them multiple times as though they were her friends. And to make it even cuter, Kaia kept repeating, “Hola!” in a soft, sweet voice to them.
I loved all the Inca sites we visited today, but if I had to pick a favorite (yeah, I know… it’s almost like picking a favorite child when you have multiple…), I’d definitely say it was Pisac. I am not completely sure why. It could be the bias because it was the very first site we visited in the Sacred Valley. But I think it’s mostly because I was so shocked at all well preserved and maintained it was. The complex was estimated to have been built around 1450. Our guide explained that when the Spanish came and conquered the Incas, the Incas had already preemptively abandoned Pisac, and so there was no real reason for the Spanish to obliterate the terraces, residences, guard posts, or religious rooms. Because you know… if people are still living there that you are conquering, you must not only kill them, but also destroy everything they have and reside in!
We asked our guide why there was no one walking around the terraced areas (which were originally built to help with irrigation and prevent flooding). He told us that originally when the sites opened, they allowed tourists to walk around them, but then they quickly realized that visitors were getting mad about other tourists being in their photos, so they ended up blocking off foot access to those areas completely!
In general, if I had to sum up themes across ancient civilizations/societies and the sites that we’ve visited across the world, I’d say they all have these in common:
- The killing and annihilation of people who are different than them – the affirmation of human hierarchy and racism/prejudice.
- Tax evasion – no one ever wants to pay taxes, and when they do, they want to pay as little as possible.
- Support structures for women and children – This is repeated throughout civilizations since the beginning of humankind. Unfortunately, this just isn’t the case for the United States of America, already seeing its decline in my lifetime.
History simply repeats itself when we either don’t take the time to learn it properly, or when we just choose not to understand it.
While at Ollantaytambo, we saw Macchu Picchu in the distance about 40 minutes driving time away. Our guide pointed it out to us. Of course, it would have taken far more than 40 minutes from that site to get there, plus the road conditions were so bumpy and tiring. I took a photo of the view in that direction as the sun started setting. Today as we looked out towards Macchu Picchu, that moment just kind of confirmed that I didn’t really feel like we missed out by not going to see it. Macchu Picchu will always be there if we want to return in the future when Kaia is older… and when we’re older. I love what we had the opportunity to see today in the Sacred Valley. While at Sacsayhuaman yesterday, we ran into a Canadian family of four with two kids, ages 5 and 9. They told us that they weren’t going to Macchu Picchu because they didn’t think their kids could handle it. Instead, they were spending three weeks across Peru — one week in Arequipa, one week in Cusco, and a week on the Peruvian coast. In Cusco, they would do a day trip to hike a different single site each day, and they felt very fulfilled and happy with this decision given their kids’ ages and their overall combined stamina. I think more people should see these other great Inca sites that are lesser hyped up because the beauty and culture behind them are just as rich.
We also got to try guinea pig today at the Peruvian/Inca buffet lunch during our day trip. In Andean cultures, guinea pig is considered a sacred animal, a symbol of good luck and prosperity. It’s considered an everyday food for many people in Ecuador and Peru. But alas, given Cusco gets many tourists, if you want to eat guinea pig, you have to commit to a whole guinea pig, which while it is not a large animal, the price tag is quite high even by Western standards, so it felt like a lot to spend on what would be so little food (guinea pigs are a lot of bone, not much meat). So while the buffet lunch was not an ideal or memorable meal on this trip for us, it was the perfect way to have a few bites of guinea pig to see what it was like. And well, it tasted like what I expected: chicken, or chicken breast to be more accurate given it was quite dry. There was a lot of bone and not much meat. It kind of reminded me of quail, rabbit, or frog: too many bones, cartilage, and work for the reward of itty bitty bits of meat.