leaving Cusco

11th August. Leaving the campground, we said only light good-byes, as we fully intended to return to hike the Salkantay and Choquequirao trails we’d been thinking for the past couple of months. Climbing higher out of Cusco, relieved the tire had been repaired, we pointed Bruce toward the historical town of Pisac.

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Pisac

It was a fairly easy drive from Cusco, descending the Sacred Valley appeared as if the earth had been torn apart in some ancient cataclysm. Two vast, jagged cliffs rose on either side, their raw faces looming over the Urubamba River that wound through the valley floor.

The town of Pisac, was founded during the Spanish colonial period after the conquest in the 1530s. The Spaniards relocated the settlement from the original Inca site on the mountainside to the valley floor beside the river, laying it out in the typical colonial grid around a central plaza and church. Over time it grew into a small agricultural hub, serving the surrounding farming communities. However, it’s the Pisac ruins that attracts the majority of travellers today. Also known for its artisan & textiles market, there is also a notable distinctly Western/European ‘hippie’ community, lots of people walking around who look like they came and never left.

Parked & camped for the night on a side street along the river as the streets are too narrow for Bruce.

Leaving the kids in the camper, Tim & I went for a walk to explore. On first impressions it feels like Pisac is a magnet for tourists with a strong hippie accent. There are many Western looking people here who seemed to have settled in permanently. Incense drifted from doorways, and drum circles echoed off the walls, I like it here, it’s got a nice vibe.

pisac ruins

12 August. Sitting high above the town, sprawling across a mountain ridge with commanding views East & West of the valley lies the original Pisac. Built in the early 1400s under Inca Emperor Pachacuti, the complex combined military, religious, and agricultural functions. Its vast terraces of fertile land on the steep slopes, with temples and ceremonial centres, Pisac is in remarkably good condition.

Watchtowers and fortifications guarded the valley’s southern entrance, making it a key defensive outpost. After the Spanish conquest in the 1530s, the site was abandoned until the 1980’s when it was recognized as a National Archeological Park.

morning hike

13th August. Most visitors enter from the top, taking a collectivo up the hill to the main entrance. We decided instead to hike up from the valley. We needed the exercise, and it was a gorgeous morning, tickets in hand, we set off at 9 a.m. to explore.

The ruins are beautifully preserved, with neat terraces trimmed in green grass. Some restoration has been done, but the modern craftsmanship — even with today’s tools — pales next to the precision of the original Inca work.

Our hike started steep, climbing terraces, wrapping around the hillside before climbing the upper ridge lines. Halfway up we bumped into René and Marcel from SwissNomads.ch travellers we’d first met back at the Cusco campground. They had driven up and were heading back down to their truck.

By the time we reached the top, we were swept into the throngs of visitors. Peace and solitude gave way to blasting speakers and staged photos. I don’t love sharing places like this. Thankfully, as soon as we began our descent, the crowds thinned. Our route took us along a ridge past smaller, less-preserved ruins, most likely lookout posts perched precariously on the cliff’s edge.

Back at the bottom, our legs felt shaky from the steep 4.5-hour loop — about 5 km and 675m of elevation gain. On the way back to the truck we wandered through the main square so I could haggle for a bag I’d spotted the night before.

Last night when I first inquired into the price the bag it was 200 soles. Asking again today I found it had jumped to 220, and when the shopkeeper’s wife came out it skyrocketed to 250 Soles.

I have been on the hung for a bag to hang in the coat rack area for jackets, hats, gloves, and belts. An unusual size, but I think this one will fit perfectly. I offered all of the 180 soles I had on me. They wouldn’t have gone any lower I don’t think, after a few minutes of trying to get 200 I was ready to walk away when the lady said yes. Boom, done! 15 mins later we were rolling out of town with my new bag fitting perfectly in it’s new home.

a new bag

Keeping the truck organized is constant. Socks gather like moss under the table, Tim’s clothes spill from the coat hooks, and Charley’s end up either under the table or tossed into the shower — which long ago became a storage closet.

Our ponchos are always at hand but never folded, just dumped on the couch. Charge cables snake across every surface. Jaxon is forever pointing out my long hair caught everywhere. I did offer to shave it all off…

Shoes are the other headache: four people means sixteen shoes with nowhere to live at any one time. That will be the next problem to solve. Living in a camper should be like living on a boat — everything has its place. That’s the theory. The reality is another matter.

Ancient Salt Mine

From Pisac we followed the bumpy road along the Urubamba River for about an hour before climbing into the hills toward the salt mines. Entry wasn’t included in the tourist ticket, and at 20 soles per person we thought it a bit steep just to look at some salt terraces. But since these were no ordinary terraces, dating back to Inca times and are still in operation today.

Now fully commercial, the site makes as much from tourism as from salt. We still found it fascinating, even though there wasn’t a single information board in any language. Taking our time, we watched the different stages of evaporation, snapping photos, and buying a bag of salt before heading off toward Moray.

Back up the hill we bumped into Jake and Erica from Bellingham, Washington, in their Mitsubishi L300. We’d met them back in Arequipa, and again in Cusco. They’d started in Argentina, bought their van there, and were making their way north — roughly the reverse of our route.

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Moray

We knew we were on the right road when we joined the parade of white collectivos — ten-seater vans racing from one Sacred Valley attraction to the next. Parking was a sport in itself. The drivers were aggressive by North American standards, I had to hop out to stand my ground against two drivers while Tim maneuvered Bruce into a spot.

By 10 a.m. the place was already heaving. It’s an important site, and absolutely worth a visit, but I was tiring of peak tourist season. While most visitors stuck to the viewing platforms, we followed the dusty paths around the outer rim, which gave us views from every angle and more, including two more half-finished terraces abandoned centuries ago.

agricultural purpose

Moray is one of the most unusual Inca sites. From above, it looks like a giant green amphitheater: a series of concentric circular terraces dropping into the earth. Archaeologists believe it was an agricultural laboratory, where the Incas experimented with crops at different elevations and microclimates. The temperature difference from the top ring to the bottom can be as much as 15°C, allowing them to test growing conditions for corn, potatoes, quinoa, and other staples for the empire. It’s ingenious — and a reminder of how advanced Inca engineering and agricultural science really were.

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Ollantaytambo

From Moray we continued to Ollantaytambo, boldly ignoring the “no trucks” sign at the entrance and rumbling straight into the square. The town was buzzing — thousands of tourists arriving and departing in their collectivos. We were quickly directed to a large, dusty parking lot where we left Bruce and walked toward the ruins.

At first glance, I wanted to turn back. The site was crawling with people, more like an ant hill than a sacred ruin. It was part of our ticket group, so we pressed on.

Ollantaytambo is impressive. Built of red granite, the Sun Temple stones weigh up to 50 tonnes each, quarried from across the river and somehow hauled up an impossibly steep slope. Standing before them, it’s hard to believe humans alone managed it. My imagination wanders to giants or lost technologies. The precision is otherworldly, how do you cut stone so precisely with hand tools before metal?

We bumped into Jake and Erica again, they are camping just down the road & invited us to join them. Having had enough of over tourism we’ve decided it’s time to head towards Brazil.

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Skipping Machu Picchu

The Salkantay trek eventually leads to Aguas Calientes, the base town for Machu Picchu. But visiting the citadel itself? Tickets can take days to secure without a tour company. You queue at dawn for multiple mornings just to get the privilege of buying one. Entry alone costs around $200 USD. Add $165 for buses up and down, several nights of overpriced accommodation and meals in Aguas Calientes, plus nearly $300 for the return train to Cusco — and suddenly a three-hour visit costs upwards of $1,200–1,500 for our family.

That was not really an option. Tim & I visited the site in 2001 and had full, all day access which was wonderful. Charley & Jaxon can come back when they are older and fully understand what they are looking at. That said, the ruins of Pisac & Ollantaytambo are very much like that of Muchu Picchu where we did have full access. My guess is that in the future, these ruins will also become restricted in access.

14th August. Following the rising sun we aim Eastward, taking two days to drop down out of the mountains into lush, dense green, tropical jungle that fringes the Andean foothills. Down nearly 4,000m where the air is thicker with humidity and the coming heat of the Amazon Basin.

We’re grateful for all our wonderful experiences over the past two months: hiking, camping, and stumbling upon extraordinary places without turnstiles or queues. The solitude, beauty and new memories have been priceless.

Exiting Peru took all of 5 mins, our adventure of a lifetime continues.