1-23-20 - Leanne - Sacred Valley

Another early start.  8:30 a.m. in the lobby. I think I’m going for advocate to the international tourist industry for more reasonable 10 am starts upon my return. 

Reynaldo shares he is a taking us to his village.  Score!  How cool is that.  The drive to Chincero takes us from the lush Andres mountains that jet to the sky to more arid Highlands with established farming.  The fields are in bloom as the potatoes flower yellow.  The fields are rolling and inviting as if straight out of a fairy tale.  “I was just thinking that too” shares Ashlynn. 

We reach the village of Chincero.  Ah! First up, demonstration center but here the prices were much less than in Cusco at least.  We get another lesson in dying using the beautiful shades of vegetable dyes.  

In Chincero we visit the main church.  The town is built on Inca foundations just like Cusco. The church is surrounded by a colonial square that resembles a Californian mission style town.  But inside the church, erected 1620, couldn’t have been any more different than California.  

Inside uncovered beautiful murals on a wooden beamed ceiling.  The three tiered altar was Neoclassical.  It was the church Reynaldo attended every week as a child.  As he kicks a soccer ball with a toddler in the square outside, you see him reverting to a happy childhood memory. Reynaldo was the oldest boy in a family of 10 children growing up on one of the local potato farm.  His father passed away when he was just 20 making him the family patriarch at a young age.  The youngest sibling was just 5 months old at the time.  He graduated university and has worked in tourism ever since.  He shared he’s guided on the Inca Trail over 800 times.  

We walk to the back of the church to see a maze of agricultural terraces uncovered. “This was just a hill when I was a child, but archeologists excavated this during my lifetime,” Shares Reynaldo.  His comment reminds us just how “new” some of these sites are for tourists like us.  In fact, an American professor from Yale named Hiram Bingham only “discovered” Machu Picchu in 1911, bringing the Inca site international recognition. A Peruvian farmer actually discovered MP a few years earlier and a family even lived there at the time that Bingham discovered it.  Locals knew it existed; however in 1911, it was quite the rage when Bingham came. A flurry of Inca academic interest followed.  In other words, Machu Picchu just needed a good American publicist. 

At the Chincero terraces, Reynaldo hands Leanne his phone and it’s Justin on the line.  She hadn’t heard his voice for four long days. “Mom we made it! We are at Machu Picchu!” shares a happy Justin. “That’s awesome! How did it go?” Asks Leanne whose been worried sick.  The hikers didn’t have WiFi for four days so Leanne has no idea what has transpired. 

“Well, we had some ups and downs” shares Justin seemingly in a rush. He goes into some quick highlights like his positive self would do.  “More later, love you.” Well at least they made it safe and sound, thinks Leanne.  But Justin WAS pretty light on details. 

After a quick lunch of empanadas and Inca Kola, we head to Moray, another Inca archeological site.  It is described as an agricultural laboratory as this place was believed to be where the Inca experimented with their terraced farming practices as well as used this spot for observing night sky.  

It’s perfectly preserved in parts and is quite a spiritual place. Reynaldo plays us Quetchuan music on his pan flute. We even mediate for a few minutes to the sound of chirping birds here nestled in the Andes on this sunny day. Ah, peace!  Leanne is relieved to hear from the other half of her tribe after days of worry.  

Next we head to Marasal, the 500-year old Incan salt mines still producing high quality salt today. Over 2.000 salt pans were built by Incas and only somewhat augmented since.  A saltwater spring from the Andes mountains feeds into an intricate water system that fills attached salt pans that will dry in the sun.  The mine, owned by the local community, is just a site to see with the Incan technology still working sustainably and naturally today.  Clearly a source of local pride.  And represents just one of the many natural resources Peru has. 

Now we embark on the journey to re-join the boys and find out what the heck happened on the Inca Trail.  We head to the train station from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Caliente via train for two hours.  

When we get off the train, a man from the hotel is there to greet us and hand me a much-needed umbrella for the two block rainy walk.  Wow!  How awesome is that! That’s customer service.  Our tour operator - Alpaca Expeditions- booked the best gems of hotels for us I must say. 

We check in and the boys are excited to see us — as much as completely exhausted young men in the middle of a deep sleep could be excited.  Suffice to say, it was a quick hug and hello.  The Tale of the Trail will have to wait until tomorrow.