The sacred valley

On day 3 of the shaman tour, we finished our tour of Cusco's sacred geography at the site of  Tambomachay.

Tambomachay water temple

This site is the ‘crown chakra’ of Cusco and we stayed in this beautiful place to meditate for some time.

Afterwards we head towards the sacred valley, stopping at Pisac within the ‘Valley of the Moon’. This site was of great agricultural importance to the Incas, with numerous terraces built into the mountain. Each terrace contains layers of humus, sand and clay in ideal ratios for growing food.

Pisac terraces

Afterwards we trekked around the ruins and I enjoyed taking in the sun :-)

Trekking around Pisac - group shot

Pisac ruins

The next site was Moray, about an hour from the sacred valley. This was another site of agricultural importance. Here are the most amazing concentric terraces containing humus transported from the sacred valley.

Moray terraces

When this was in use, water was channeled from the mountains, into the bottom well section. The terraces would hold the heat generated through the daytime and overnight, the water would evaporate upwards creating a system of various microclimates for growing medicinal plants. The unique shape of the terraces ensured the crops were protected from the elements. Incredible ingenuity!

Moray - surrounding mountains

After this we travelled to Ollantaytambo. This is a cute town situated along the train line to Machu Picchu. We stayed here for the night but also explored the ruins, and acknowledged the earth, wind and water elements.
 

Town of Ollantaytambo

Incredible stone wall

One of the 'natural refrigerators' for storing food located in the mountains

Ollantaytambo