Peru Day 4 - Sacred Valley

On Monday we went on a tour of the Sacred Valley - the area around Cusco, full of Incan ruins. Our first stop was in Pisac, which had terraces built into the mountains and some small houses.

We had lunch at a cute outdoor buffet restaurant in Urubamba, where we finally got to sample the various Peruvian desserts (they make lots of great pastries and cakes).

After lunch we went to Ollamtaytambo, another site of Incan ruins, with more terraces and houses high up on the mountain.

Chinchero was our last stop - it's a 16th century Catholic Church built on an Incan temple. The side alter is the original stone Incan alter, and since we were there close to sunset, you could see how the light comes in the door and lines up exactly with the alter - very cool. We also saw how the Incans carved the rocks to make them fit together perfectly rather than using filler in between.

Back in Cusco, Jeff and I had dinner on the plaza again, and enjoyed beautiful views again. Jeff had cuy (guinea pig), and I had rocoto relleno (stuffed pepper). We also tried on of the traditional Peruvian drinks - Pisco Sour, which was pretty good. However, the restaurant was completely empty, despite its great location, which was a little weird, so we moved to a different place for tea and dessert.