Within an hour of landing in Cusco, I found myself standing at a bridge near Ollantaytambo, taking in this most pleasing scenery.
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“This isn’t how Peru is supposed to look”, I thought to myself. “This is how Alaska is supposed to look. Where are the colourful, pipe-smoking ladies with bowler hats, where are the pan flute players, where are the llamas, why are there tall conifers here?”
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None of the expected stereotypes was satisfied. And yet Peru it was.
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I knew shamefully little about the Sacred Valley upon my arrival. I thought of it as nought but an unavoidable transit leg from Cusco en route to Machu Picchu.
This assumption proved wrong on two counts :
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1. One does not travel up from Cusco (3,399 m.a.s.l.) to Macchu Picchu (2430 m.a.s.l.). One does, in fact, travel down by nearly one thousand meters of altitude
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2. The Sacred Valley is a great destination. There are weeks worth of things to see here, and its only misfortune is its proximity to Machu Picchu.
The Urubamba River