Sacred Valley to the Amazon

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Friday, 12 April 2024 - Explored the Sacred Valley with a morning at the Aranwa Sacred Valley Hotel grounds watching hummingbirds, then drove into the Andes visiting the Maras salt pans, saw traditional evaporation ponds and local family-managed clay lined pools, continued on to the Chinchero Archaeological Site with Inca terraces and Spanish colonial ruins, enjoyed lunch with our guide and driver, and ended the day photographing Andean peaks and hummingbirds back at the hotel.

Our hotel, Aranwa Sacred Valley Hotel, had huge grounds with trails, ponds, streams, and feeding stations to attract birds - including hummingbirds.

A Blue-and-yellow Macaw in a tree over a pond — A Blue-and-yellow Macaw in a tree over a pond.

Sparkling Violetear hummingbirds battling — Sparkling Violetear hummingbirds were battling each other for the feeders.

Beautiful little metallic blue birds.

The huge Giant Hummingbird — The huge Giant Hummingbird - he was big - maybe 10 inches long.

Succulent plant near the pond — Interesting succulent near the pond.

Sheep herder with Andes background — After breakfast, we headed up into the Andes for our explorations.

Along the way, we spotted a sheep herder with the Andes in the background.

Sahuasiray peak with snow — The high Andes peaks with snow (their summer over long ago as we were here during their fall).

The snow is on the peak called Sahuasiray that rises to 19,000 feet.

Salt pans of Maras valley — Our next visit would be the Maras salt pans. There, a spring heavy in salt emerges from the rocks.

The salt pans are in a small valley.

5,000 saltwater evaporation pools — Over 5,000 saltwater pools where the water evaporates to leave the salt - a practice used here prior to the Incas.

Water routed into ponds — The water from the spring is routed along small streams into the complex. Rocks are used to move water into a pond or bypass.

Salt harvest process — It takes more than a month for the water to evaporate - typically the pond is filled up a few times to gather enough salt at the bottom to harvest.

Family-managed clay-lined ponds — Each of the ponds has a clay lining to stop the water from seeping back into the ground.

The nearby town owns and controls the ponds. Each family from the village is assigned ponds based on family size.

Virginia Ann and Cal at Moray — Virginia Ann and Cal at Moray.

Structural foundation surrounded by terraces — Archaeologists are also not certain what the purpose of the structural foundation surrounded by the terraces.

The flow of the terraces — The flow of the terraces.

Stonework with flowing lines — We were intrigued by the flowing lines of the stonework.

Nearby but smaller depression — A smaller depression is nearby - not as grand in scale - still pretty large.

Further excavation required to recreate walls — There would need to be further excavation to recreate the walls.

Piles of stones with unknown placement — The piles of stones are those that it can't be determined exactly where they belong in the walls.

A door along the route to Chinchero Archaeological Site — We then drove to the village of Chinchero. Where we had a short walk to the Chinchero Archaeological Site.

A door along our route.

Decorations on the front wall of a home — Decorations along the front wall of a home.

An alpaca with fancy earrings — Looking into a yard we spotted an alpaca with fancy earrings.

Church built over Inca Temple at Chinchero — At the Chinchero Archaeological Site, the Spanish built a church over the Inca Temple.

When the Spanish discovered an Inca city, they always established a church where the temples once stood.

Local woman carrying greens for cuy — A local woman carrying a burden of greens - maybe feed for cuy?

Long rear wall of the complex — Long rear wall of the complex.

Terraces zigzagging down the mountain — Beautiful terraces traveling down the mountain hills. These were interesting because they zig zagged.

Virginia Ann and Cal at Chinchero Site — Virginia Ann and Cal at Chinchero Archaeological Site.

A corner wall with random stones on the ground — A corner of a wall with random rocks - not sure why they were left on the ground.

Long wall with niches and Inca history — The long wall with niches.

The ruins are thought to have been a summer retreat for Inca Tupac Yupanqui, the son of Pachacutec, and feature Inca stonework, terraces, and aqueducts that are still in use today.

Corn stand along the road — We had seen the corn stands along the road and outside the site was a woman selling the corn. Our guide purchased one corn cob for us to sample later at lunch.

Virginia Ann and Cal with the Sacred Valley — Virginia Ann and Cal with the Sacred Valley in the background.

Spanish Hacienda with Inca terraces — A Spanish Hacienda with an Inca set of terraces just above. The hacienda is abandoned and the site is managed by the Peruvian state.

Cal — Cal taking a picture of Huaypo lake.

Huaypo lake — Huaypo lake.

Ceremony to Mother Earth — A ceremony to Mother Earth performed prior to our lunch. Various objects are buried in a small hole including coca leaves, bananas, and flower petals.

A shepherd with sheep near lunch spot — A shepherd - the sheep were traveling close to where we stopped for lunch.

Rain clouds threatening the hike — Rain threatened all day but we avoided it - a great day for hiking around the sites.

Lunch with guide Chris and driver — Cal and Virginia Ann having lunch with guide Chris and our driver.

Andean peak Veronica with rain clouds — The Andean peak Veronica and the rain clouds.

Pretty light on the foothills — Pretty light on the foothills.

Corn laid out to dry in a village — Corn laid out to dry in a village.

Andean peaks viewed from the hotel — The Andean peaks from our hotel.

Cal hummingbirds to end the day — The day ended as it started with Cal taking pictures of Sparkling Violetear hummingbirds.

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