Our next stop on our Sacred Valley tour took us to Chinchero which is a city and archeological site high up in the Andes mountains and sits at just over 12,500 feet. This site had a pretty white church, and was different from other sites in the way that the Inca’s carved each stone to perfectly fit in with the others. No mortar or other mud used. Amazing! And it’s even earthquake proof! 😂
This small town also is known for its weaving markets, where different families raise and breed llamas, alpaca’s, and guinea pigs, either to eat or to use for wool. We were able to visit one such market and it was one of our favorite stops of the day. The kids loved petting the guinea pigs and Llamas, and learning about how the Peruvian people clean and dye the wool was fascinating. The women in the village are even required to master this skill as well as weaving before marrying. I was glad I didn’t live there or I’d probably have never married. 😂
We also were able to see some weaving demonstrated and then finished by seeing all the items they make from the wool. I was amazed! They had everything from blankets, table runners, hats, gloves, scarfs, sweaters, toys, purses, bags, socks, you name it. And most was so soft. We couldn’t help but buy some things for family back home! 🙂
We then ended our trip with a quick visit to Moray which is a very unique Inca site as it is actually round and looks like an amphitheater. Our tour guide explained that it was used as a testing site of sorts to see how different varieties of plants grew at different levels and in different sunlight. Genius! But I’m guessing from all the other sites facing East, that they found the East facing tiers to be the most effective! 😂
We unfortunately had to miss our last two stops on our tour due to the sun going down so early at 5:30(The Maras Salt Mines, and Ollantaytambo Ruins) but thankfully the Ollantaytambo ruins were right by our Airbnb, so we knew we could see them the next day. But such a fun 4th day in Peru! Such a fascinating country! ❤️
