Days 2 and 3: The Sacred Valley and Cuzco

For days 2 and 3 we have been staying in the city of Cuzco, the former Incan capital. Day 2 we did an organized tour of some of the major archeoligical sites and towns outside of Cuzco, in the Sacred Valley, such as Ollantaytambo and Pisac. We didn´t orginally plan on seeing all those sites because we didn´t think we would have enough time to travel around to all of them. So, we did the organized tour (and felt very very touristy) and got it all done in one fast paced day. Speaking of feeling very touristy, Cuzco is so packed with tourists, and Aguas Calientes (the town closest to Machu Picchu) will probably be worse. Coming off the plane in Cuzco we were bombarded with hotels, tour agencies, taxi drivers and a live band all vying for our attention.

Day 3 we spent in Cuzco, looking around all the museums they have here and shopping in the market. We checked out the Cathedrals but didn´t go inside because we didn´t want to pay the $5 entrance fee just to walk around and see. Since when do churches charge entrance fees, and how do they get people to come to church if there is an entrance fee? Actually, they do allow normal church services and prayer every morning so we may be temporarily Catholic next time we´re here so we can see what the inside of the Cathedral looks like.

Robert sliding down the water drain at Ollantaytambo

The ruins at PisacDaniel and Robert´s Andean band