Ladies day out at the Ollanta & Pisac ruins

  Pisac, Sacred Valley, Peru
Friday, June 20, 2008

Nothing says ladies day out like an afternoon spent hiking ruins!

On Sunday, June15, Lotte, Lena & Genevive (another friend from language school in Cusco) came out to meet me in my little town for a day of being tourists.  We started with checking out the ruins in my current home town of Ollanta.

view of Ollanta from atop the ruins

One of the cool things about the ruins here is that they are right in the middle of town, no bus or excursion needed, just walk on in -- & up!  I am a little embarressed to say that we did not pay the extra bit for a guide, so my knowledge of the ruins hasnīt increased - but we did enjoy the beauty.  Since I have a bit of time here still, I wouldnīt be surprised if I go on through again, so stay tuned, more knowledge to come.

atop Ollanta ruins

From Ollanta, we took a cab to Pisac, another town in the Sacred Valley that has a well-known market on Tues, Thurs & Sundays and great ruins as well.  We hit the marketplace first. [So to be fair, our ladies day out did include shopping as well.]  It was a lovely colorful place - lots of weavings, bright colored garmets, jewels & of course lots of trinkets.

Lotte, Lena & I at Pisac Market

On Sundays, there is also a large, local food market around the edges of the main marketplace where locals spread out there harvests of potatoes (lots of potatoes here in Peru), vegetables, corn of all colors (lots of corn as well), and all things grown.  There is some combination of barter & selling for cash & it is fun to watch.

Pisac Market

 

pausing for photo at Pisac ruins

After the marketplace, we headed out of Pisac & up - lots of up - to the ruins outside town.  None of us knew what to expect & were totally blown away by the ruins.  The scale is amazing (Pisac ruins are larger than Machu Picchu, although not as complex) and the view - & cliffs you walk by - are really awesome. 

view of Pisac ruins

We just all kept stopping to take pictures, so apologies again if they all look the same, trying to capture the sense of the site.  There werenīt really any guides available at the site (we think we would have needed to get one in town), but we did hire a young girl to walk us through the site to make sure we knew where we were going & could get back to our cab that waited for us for a couple hours.

Lena, Lotte & our ´guide´at Pisac ruins

Our great cabbie, then took us back to Cusco where I indulged in a hotel room for the night that had amazing down comforters & a 19 inch TV with cable - in English - and a remote.  Ahhh, luxury!  We headed out for a great dinner, wine & dessert (I am sure this is a very surprising update).  All in all a lovely day out with the ladies, the Incas & Chilean wine!

Love & Miss,
Katie