Peru Travel Tour 256

1. 5:00 AM - Breakfast at the hotel. || -12.020782726196996, -77.10804113290288

2. 5:30 AM - Leave hotel for the airport.

3. 8:10 AM - Flight from Lima to Cusco.

4. 9:15 AM - Arrive at the Cusco Airport. || -13.532635724682958, -71.97462893472208

5. 9:30 AM - Pick up from the airport to start the Cusco City Tour.

6. Cusco City Tour: Sacsayhuamán. || -13.509678643364737, -71.98169316875125

7. Cusco City Tour: Iglesia De Santo Domingo. || -13.5198076139378, -71.97513932642252

8. Cusco City Tour: Plaza De Armas. || -13.51638916894007, -71.97863574005959

9. Cusco City Tour: Templo de San Blas. || -13.514825898064455, -71.97453122642256

10. 12:00 PM - Check into hotel. || -13.516063079795083, -71.98088973991538

11. 12:30 PM - Lunch at local restaurant.

12. 1:30 PM - Free time.

13. 6:00 PM - Dinner at a local restaurant.

1. 6:00 AM - 6:40 AM - Breakfast at the hotel. || -13.516063079795083, -71.98088973991538

2. 0640am-0815am - Transfer from hotel to Ollantaytambo. || -13.25829404334288, -72.26470828471248

3. 0815am-1000am - Train from Ollantaytambo to Aguascalientes. || -13.154177466875224, -72.52608420236976

4. 1000 AM - 10:30 AM - Transportation from Aguascalienties to Machu Picchu.

5. 1030 AM - 3:00 PM - If you do Huayna Picchu and Machu Picchu. || -13.155038035854156, -72.54632102792108

6. 10:30 AM - 03:00 PM - If you do just Machu Picchu. || -13.16469739365142, -72.54306725593342

7. 3:00 PM -5:00 PM - Free time and lunch.

8. 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM - Train from Aguascalientes to Ollantaytambo. || -13.155368510233728, -72.52428174079647

9. 7:23 PM - 9:00 PM - Land transfer from Ollantaytambo to hotel in Cusco. || -13.26151063276182, -72.26531975989337

10. 9:00 PM - 10:00 PM - Dinner at hotel. || -13.516031784709, -71.98095411292991

1. 7:00 AM - 7:30 AM - Breakfast at the hotel. || -13.516031784709, -71.98095411292991

2. 7:30 AM - 8:30 AM - Transfer from Cusco to Chinchero - Sacred Valley

3. 8:30 AM - 9:45 AM - Transfer from Chinchero to Maras.

4. 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM - Visit Chinchero - Sacred Valley. || -13.396570265458527, -72.05110804153367

"Awai Riccharichiq is the quechuan name of the Center of weavers of Chinchero and Nilda Callañaupa is its founder and current director. The site is a marvel. Around the ample garden there is a covered gallery and towards the end, a venue built of natural colored mud, roofed with tiles. The garden gathers groups of women enthralled in a task that demands the effort of their hands but also, of their memories and intelligence. They are weaving and through this activity they are revitalizing a labor that during pre-Hispanic times was one of the most valued by society. The art of textile making divided work, provided the different social classes of pieces for daily use, and also ornaments of power and wealth. The textiles synthesized and conserved a Cosmo vision, which was almost a language on its own. Today, these women, young, adult, old, continue weaving over the base of the same ancient technology and using natural fibers and dyes extracted from plants that grow wildly in the lower areas. Visiting this place will generate a transformation in the traveler, as he will understand that there is an immense ancient world that is updated daily thanks to the hands of the weavers from Chinchero. "

5. 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM - Transfer from Chinchero to Maras - Sacred Valley

6. 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM - Visit Maras - Sacred Valley. || -13.335411663654954, -72.15700911086465

Maras is a small community 40 kilometers from the city of Cusco, on a turnoff from the road to the town of Urubamba. Its main attraction, apart from its church, that dates from the colonial period, are the salt mines located near the town which captivate sightseers and, in particular, photographers. Salt is extracted from mines which have been in use since pre-Columbian times. The extraction method employed involves using an ancient drying process, whereby salt-water, flowing from an underground stream, is left in the sun in thousands of wells until it has evaporated, leaving behind only the salt, which is then ready to be sold or exchanged for provisions. During the summer months (April – October) the shimmering spectacle offered by the pools is incomparable.

7. 11:30 AM - 12:00 PM - Transfer from Maras to Moray - Sacred Valley

8. 12:00 PM - 12:45 PM - Visit Moray - Sacred Valley. || -13.329689850340966, -72.19711698224714

Only 38 Km away from Cusco, Moray lies just 7 Km away from Maras, although the road to it is not always in good condition. This community is famous for its embedded amphitheater, formed by four circular terraces which seem to disappear into the interior of the puna, like an artificial crater. Evidence seems to suggest that Moray was an important center of Inca agricultural research on crops, which was carried out on different sized plots located at various altitudes (some of which were at more than 100 m underground). The Andean terraces, built on retaining walls filled with fertile soil and watered via a complex irrigation system, offer up more than 250 different types of vegetables and cereals, such as corn, quinoa and kiwicha. The Moray agricultural laboratory, are the mysterious four circular terraces of Moray that resemble gigantic finger prints on a high plateau at 3.500 m.a.s.l. As recent research has shown, the terraces at Moray were used for adapting plants to new weathers and environments, and are additional proof of the highly sophisticated level of agricultural knowledge reached by the Incas. At the experiment station, the large conic depressions 47 to 84 meters deep cut in limestone made it possible to replicate on each terrace’s depth. Resembling a sunken amphitheater or an artificial crater, the terraces were built by erecting containment walls filled with fertile land and provided with complex irrigation systems. Temperature differences between the top and bottom of these depressions permitted using each terrace for adapting many different plant varieties (more than 250 plant species). The Incas are reported to have organized the agricultural production throughout the Tahuantisuyo from the experience gained at the Moray site.

9. 12:45 PM - 1:15 PM - Transfer to local restaurant.

10. 1:15 PM - 2:15 PM - Lunch at local restaurant.

11. 2:15 PM - 2:45 PM - Transfer to Ollantaytambo - Sacred Valley

12. 2:45 PM - 5:45 PM - Visit Ollantaytambo - Sacred Valley. || -13.258419357753075, -72.2644078773114

"The fortress of Ollantaytambo was named after the legendary Ollanta, a chieftain famous for his romance with a princess, the daughter of Pachacútec. Ollantaytambo is divided in two sectors, according to the dual Hanan and Hurin scheme, separated by a rivulet (Patacancha) that flows north to south along an old Inca canal. The upper sector occupies a hill and part of the rivulet’s banks, where there is a large square and a series of adobe brick and stone rooms. A beautiful stone known as the “Ñusta Bath” can be seen to one side of the square. The top of the hill can be reached by stairways built between terraces. At the summit, we find plastered-wall rooms, the Temple of the Sun and other fine buildings of cyclopean size. Finally, a half-finished wall of finely polished and carefully fitted stone blocks featuring high relief motifs found between the Kachijata quarry and Ollantaytambo reveals that the building process was suddenly interrupted. The site is completed with ponds, carved rocks and several hectares of agricultural terraces with their respective canals and stairways. Large courts with four rooms and a courtyard separated by stone streets and squares of orthogonal design like a chessboard form the lower sector. After the ollantaytambo tour we can walk through the main square

13. 5:45 PM - 7:30 PM - Transfer from Ollantaytambo to Cusco.

14. 7:30 PM - Dinner at the hotel. || -13.516083943183535, -71.98082536690087

1. 8:00am- 9:00am - Breakfast at hotel. || -13.516083943183535, -71.98082536690087

2. 4:00 AM - 5:00 AM - Transfer from hotel to airport. || -13.538024564440528, -71.94374308224342