Wednesday marked the mid-point of our trip to Cusco and our third to last full day in Peru. Today we visited the Sacred Valley. It is located about two hours outside Cusco city. Before reaching the valley, we made two stops. The first was at a local market and the second was at an alpaca fur harvesting farm where we got to feed alpacas, llamas, and vicunas. We learned about how to tell the difference between the three of them and their importance to the people who live here. All three of their natural habitats are above 2000 feet. When we arrived at the valley, our first stop was the Pisac ruins. They are set in the side of the mountain and are complete with many agricultural terraces. We hiked to the top of the store-houses for the agriculture, which were set at the highest altitude in order to preserve the food stored inside them. The ruins offered a beautiful view of the Sacred Valley below. There were two other sets of ruins, one at the entrance and another that we didn’t have time to hike down to. Also one the mountainside was home to one of the largest cemeteries in the Andes, and you could see little holes in the cliffs of the mountainside where Inca ancestors had been mummified and buried.

   We stopped for lunch at an amazing buffet style restaurant that included alpaca and other Andean dishes. It also had a large garden with a river flowing around the backside. After lunch we headed to another set of ruins, Ollantaytambo. The ruins consisted of large terraces and a religious temple. It is said to be made in the outline of a llama and was one of the main stops on the Inca Trail.  Our final stop was special, because the women in the town play the most important role in society, as they control all the finances of their families. Here we were given a lesson on how alpaca fur is sheared, washed, colored and woven. The particular designs that the women weave have particular meanings, and they are extremely intricate. We then went back to the hotel to get a good nights rest in preparation for Machu Picchu tomorrow.