RECONNECTING WITH CUSCO COLORS

First stop, Machu Picchu citadel of course, but this time was on the Luxury Hiram Bingham train, a journey filled with unique and unforgettable experiences. Arriving to Poroy station they welcomed us with champagne and beautiful colorful dances with local live music. After boarding the train, the journey started with a great welcome drink combined with some Peruvian snacks like chifles (banana chips) & cashew nuts. You can choose your favorite one, Pisco Sour (our national cocktail), chilcano, champagne & mimosa.

I really enjoyed the entertainment on board with Peruvian & International live music that made us sing and dance. Personally it was my favorite part of the trip, we were traveling through the Peruvian Andes with amazing views along the way.

After enjoying this great performance, we had a nice gourmet lunch made with original and local supplies perfectly paired with nice wines.

I forgot to tell you guys, that all this happens in a 1920s wagon design, so you will feel the elegance and luxury combined with a personalized service taking care of every last detail on your trip. I Highly recommended it, at list ones.

Arriving to Aguas Calientes, the small town where Machu Picchu is located,) we took the bus to get up to the citadel (20 minutes ride) starting our visit of this magical place.

Machu Picchu has a special energy and you can feel it, but also a breathtaking view, that makes you feel powerful and on the top of the world. This is a master piece construction, the Incas were amazing engineers and architects.

There are a lot of theories about why was Machu Picchu built for, they say that, it could be the last Inca city, a temple devoted to the Virgins of the Sun or even a royal retreat of the 15th-century dedicated to Inca Pachacutec, the truth is that we exactly don’t know yet.

What I know, is that this visit must be on the Top of your list!

The next day, we started our journey to the Sacred Valley of the Incas, on the way we stop at Awana Kancha, in Qechua “the place where we weave”, a nice live museum where you will learn about the origin of the camelids and their relation with camels or dromedaries in the rest of the world. You will actually have the opportunity to see different kind of Lamas, Alpacas, Vicuñas & Guanacos, you can feed them and learn about their wool, being the Vicuña & baby Alpaca wool the most expensive ones.

There are more than 30 natural colors of wool and hundreds of other colors are made from different kind of natural materials, like cochineal, leaves & roots, if you combine them with some minerals you can get new nuances. Additionally, you will learn and observe the process of natural dyeing used today by the high Andean communities.

Here you will appreciate the artisan textile work, the tools they use in the textile manufacture and the types of looms used by all the pre-Columbian cultures.

Awana Kancha allows the survival of Cusqueñan textile traditions and provides support to the indigenous people who create them. This is a unique experience to learn about this animals, feed them and even being able to sponsor them.

Then we continued our trip to Pisac village, were we had a stop at the famous colorful Pisac market that offers the opportunity to buy or just watch a lot of Indian handmade products by local craftsmen or neighboring communities.

Don’t forget to visit the ovens used to bake delicious empanadas full of cheese or herbs, which is a great snack to keep you going, finally you can also appreciated the guineas farms located near the ovens to keep them worm.

After this nice stop we continued to visit the Pisac ruins, considered a perfect example of ingenious architecture, and rebuilt on top of a mountain that towers over the small town of Pisac; the views of the countryside are spectacular. Pisac was an important defense against any potential invasion of Cusco which was the capital of the Inca Empire.

After visiting Pisac we had a nice lunch at Hacienda Huayocari, a beautiful antique private estate of the Lambarri-Orihuela family located at the Sacred Valley. The Hacienda houses the owners private collection of pre-Colombian, Incan and colonial artefacts including an impressive collection of ceramics. I recommend to eat on the terrace if there is nice weather because the view from there is amazing, you can see the whole Sacred Valley as the surrounding mountains.

They offer a very nice cuisine and focus on serving traditional and rustic Andean food. They use local ingredients that come from their own farm or other local farms and dishes are really delicious. It’s totally worth it.

We continuing our journey to see Maras & Moray, also located at the Sacred Valley, as you can see, this Valley has a lot of incredible experiences to offer.

We start with Maras, the salt mines or the famous “Salt Pools” this salt pans were created and have been in use since the Inca times. This series of pools were constructed to evaporate the salt water produced by a subterranean stream, so the remaining salt can be easily extracted. Actually this pure pink salt is packed with minerals and the Incas believed that it had health benefits. Today, the salt is excellent for cooking and flavoring foods, but it can also be used to enhance beauty. Nowadays the salt is often added to soaps or used as a body scrub and for bathing, healing and rejuvenating the skin. This site with its impressive landscape is perfect for people who wants to take incredible pictures

Moray is located 20 minutes from Maras and it was a Laboratory for Agriculture built by the Incas. Is formed by circular terraces each one in a different level having approximately twenty micro-climates. This terraces were used to cultivate and acclimate agricultural crops such as potatoes, corn, quinoa, kiwicha, etc. They use it to create different kind of products by experiments done here to increase and to diversify the agriculture production in the Inca Empire.