Yesterday, our trip in the area of the Sacred Valley up north of Cusco was a relaxing half-day trip but today we’re planning to spend more time visiting sites, pretty much like we did on our first day. The idea is to visit all the leftover highlights in the east area of the Sacred Valley, these being Pisac (ruins and market), Pikillacta, Rumicolca and finally Tipon.
Cusco to Pisac
After hearing so much about the city of Pisac, famous both for the market and the ruins, we decide to drive there first. The “local market” is supposed to be on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays but since on Thursday we couldn’t go cause we were hiking rainbow mountain, hopefully today there’s gonna be something to look at. The road to the town is pretty straightforward and as soon as you get to the centre, it’s impossible not to miss the market! You could say that the city itself IS the market; hundreds of shops, stalls and vendors selling everything from handmade textiles to rare minerals to jewellery of all types. Having a stroll through the market is a nice thing to do and even if you’re decent haggler, you can pull off some great souvenir deals.
Pisac “Every Day” Market
Getting to the ruins was definitely more difficult and not that advertised for tourist getting there on their own. The road that pass next to the market and museum (which has no signs for the ruins), does in fact leads up to the ruins after a relatively short 15min drive. At some point, on that same road you’ll have your Boleto Turistico checked at a small booth which then will allow you to pass and reach the final parking of the ruins.
Entrance to Pisac Ruins
Once at the ruins, we realise that the archaeological site is spread over a huge area so opt to visit the most important bit, all located along the road that connect the parking lot to the “old village”. Great ruins and awesome views !
Pisac to Pikillacta to Rumicolca
We spend in Pisac just over two hours visiting both the market and ruins so after a small snack break, we decide to carry on and head to Pikillacta. This time, getting to the ruins is much easier and we only have to follow the road to Urcos until a big sign tell us to turn left onto a dirt road. And after less than 5min on the dirt road, passed a little check-point, we arrive at the ruins. If in Pisac the archaeological site was invaded by tourists, here at Pikillacta we’re literally the only one visiting, not a single car, bus or tourist van can be seen around.
The ruins are thought to be what’s left of an ancient city of the indigenous tribe of the Wari (pre-Inca era) but the crazy thing is that archaeologist think there were at least 30’000 people living there. That is a lot of people for back then!!! And if you walk around the site, in which you can probably spend hours and hours wandering around, you can’t but agree with that statement. Consider that the area of the site is about 35km2 !
After Pikillacta our next stop is Rumicolca (no entrance fee), a small site located about 100m down the main road from which we took the turn off for Pikillacta. Some legends say that this was an aqueduct built to bring water to the city whereas others state that Rumicolca was the entrance gate to access the city of Pikillacta. Whichever you wanna believe in, stopping by to visit this time is surely time well spent!
Gate or Aqueduct of Rumicolca
Rumicolca to Tipon
On the way back to Cusco, we head to the archaeological site of Tipon, our last stop for the day. From the main road in the town of Tipon, getting to the ruins is a steady 15-20min drive up in the hills until the road itself becomes the parking lot of for the ruins. Similarly to when we visited Moray, the site of Tipon is thought to be related to both agriculture and water networks; it is theorised that Inca people used to experiment the effects of microclimates onto different crops featuring advanced irrigation techniques. Having a stroll around the site doesn’t take long but its a great way to relax with the sound of running water. Great atmosphere if you ask us!
Just before the main road, we also happen to attend at some kind of celebration involving many different types of local dances and dressed-up people.
And if that’s not enough, given we kind of missed lunch we go to a local restaurant and for the first time in our lives, we taste the local delicacy named Cuy a.k.a. Guinea Pig.
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