Pisac: Ruins and Market

10 October 2010

Pisac: Ruins and Market

We woke up Sunday morning and tried a little breakfast at our hotel. The Peruvians really seem to like puffed grains for breakfast. I have never seen such a variety of these grains…and in fact a few were totally unidentifiable to even this crunchy granola girl. At breakfast I learned that poor Dylan had had his camera stolen the night before. I have to say that I felt a bit guilty seeing as it was my idea to venture off into the “real” Cusco for dinner that night. He figured that it must have been taken out of his bag while we waited outside a grocery store after dinner. Unfortunately, theft seems to be one of those mishaps of traveling. In all of my travels I have never been pick-pocketed and thought myself quite the astute traveler, until I had all of my good and emotionally sentimental jewelry stolen from the Dublin airport.

After breakfast we had a meeting to discuss the specifics for our upcoming trek in the Andes. We were all given a duffel bag in which to pack no more than 5 kilograms of clothes and other items. The duffel bags had to be uniform in size so that they could be properly carried by the horses on the trek. We were advised to bring warm clothes, waterproof gear and a poncho as well. I had already realized that the Peruvian mountain weather changed quite rapidly. Jaime and Erik, who would be in charge, both warned us that it would be strenuous trek through the Andes but that we could all do it. All we had to carry on the trek were our day packs with some items we’d need during the day. The horses and porters would carry our tents, food, and duffel bags. It actually sounded more like luxury camping!

After the meeting, we took a bus to the Sacred Valley region of the Urubamba River to visit the town of Pisac which is known for its Inca ruins as well as for its large craft market. Sundays were one of the best days to go as the farmers came down from the countryside to sell their produce.

The weather was cool and damp as we left the hotel. It really felt like fall which was a welcome change from the heat and humidity of Texas. On the way to Pisac, we made a stop at a rudimentary zoo. It had a display of Peruvian animals. Llama and alpaca were plentiful. They also had some pumas and a condor, which are two sacred animals in Inca religion. I don’t recall ever seeing a condor up close in a zoo before. They are massive birds and so prehistoric looking. You can imagine them swooping through the skies during the dinosaur times. I think my favorite “pet” at the zoo was the hairless Peruvian dog. It was a short and stout dog, very muscular, with charcoal gray skin and a tuft of golden fur on its head. It was one of the strangest looking animals I have ever seen, something out of a children’s storybook illustration. The poor naked dog was shaking in the damp cold.

We finally arrived a bit later at the ruins of Pisac. These Inca ruins were thought to be built in the mid 1400s and located at the south end of the Sacred Valley. The ruins are set on top of a mountain, at about 11,000 ft elevation and the hillside that sweeps down from the ruins is lined with terraces for farming. To get up to the ruins requires a little bit of hiking up and down steep stone staircases and even through a tunnel between two boulders. The sun finally comes out once we get to the top and we can get a view of the valley below. The mountains in the area are a golden yellow color due to the grasses that cover them. The wet season has just begun in Peru, and eventually these grasses will be a lush green, but for now it still appears very arid, much like a California landscape.

We walk through the well-preserved ruins of Pisac with Jaime explaining the sites along the way. He pointed out again how perfectly the rocks of the Incan walls fit together. Some of the rocks had notches or grooves carved into them so that they would fit with those on top or bottom. Others had knob like structures that stuck out of their surfaces, and these were made in order to use logs as levers to hoist the rocks and hold them into place. Jaime also explained that the Inca people believed the rocks were alive, which comes to no surprise as this was a culture that had a great respect for nature. Jaime said that when workers were killed under one of these heavy rocks during construction that the rocks became even more special and the spirit of these men were incorporated into the rock as well.

From one of the hilltop views we could see across a valley to another mountainside. The earth on that mountain was an orange red. Jaime pointed out the holes in that mountainside. These were old burial chambers for mummified Incas. All of the sites had been looted of their gold and precious items by now, but it was still the resting site of many bodies. Some of the burial holes were supported by more of the perfectly constructed Incan walls; these would have been the burial sites for the important people of this village.

After some more exploration of the site, we started to make our way back to the bus to get over to the Pisac market. The hike back to the bus was actually just as rigorous as the hike to the ruin site. I kept up with Erik, who has an incredible fitness level, most of the way but I have to admit my lungs were burning when it came to the really steep switchback section. Overall I did not really think the altitude was getting to me, but when my body really had to exert itself, it was definitely struggling more than at sea level. The shortness of breath came on much more quickly and forcefully.

Before long, we were disembarking our bus in the main town of Pisac, just outside the market. It was immediately reminiscent of a traditional Mayan mountain market I had visited with my family this winter in Guatemala. The town of Pisac is in the valley and so while one walks through the cobblestone streets, one is always aware of the high mountains that close in above from almost all angles.

The group decided to stop at a restaurant for lunch that Jaime recommended. Jonas and I decided we were going to eat some of the street food at the market. On the way to find the food market section, we passed through dozens of stalls containing brightly colored textiles. There was a variety of wall tapestries, rugs, sweaters, hats, gloves, ponchos and bags made of hand woven wool or alpaca fibers. The shopping would come later, food always takes first priority in my world.

We easily found the food and produce section of the market. There were rows and rows of women selling a colorful assortment of fruits and vegetables, fish, meat and even dyes. There was a particularly large variety of different kinds of potatoes and maize. In fact one woman had a basket with a rainbow assortment of corn. Most of these women had come from the adjacent mountains and fields. It’s interesting that in the US, “local” food has been a novel concept, which requires a person to go out of their way to find a farmers market or a Whole Foods. But in the rest of the world, local food is just the norm.

Many of the women at this market likely would have carried their goods either on their backs or on pack animals if they were not fortunate enough to have access to a vehicle. They were all wearing the traditional Andean mountain clothes. They wore wool sweaters on top and knee length skirts on the bottom. Many also wore what I can best describe as woven wool leg warmers, rubber sandals for shoes and bolero hats on their heads. There were some that wore even more traditional clothing which consisted of vibrantly colored woven fabrics and equally bold woven hats. Their long dark hair was secured back in thick perfect braids. Sometimes just one, but usually two braids, which they tied together at the bottom forming a U-shape on their back.

This section of the market was just bustling with activity as the Peruvians made their way through the different produce, haggling over a good price or offering a barter. Many of the women did this with one baby strapped to their back and another young child in tow. The women making the sales had their little children help them count out the number of onions they’d sell, or deal with the change. These kind of markets must foster a great sense of community and offer a somewhat rare opportunity for people who live in remote mountain villages to congregate with their “neighbors.”

After Jonas and I walked around a bit, we spotted a lady eating a plate of food at her food stand that looked delicious. We asked her where she got it from, and she pointed to one of the nearby food tents. Jonas and I squeezed in on the bench with the Peruvians and ordered a plate that was filled with rice, lamb, some carrots, and something like a maize porridge. It was fast, cheap, and delicious and the people watching we got to do while eating was priceless. Halfway through eating, a little boy and his parents sat down on the bench next to me. He looked about 5 years old and his parents also ordered him a heaping plate of food. He could barely see over the plate while he happily ate it, accidentally dragging the arm of his sweater in it when he reached for something.

After lunch, I spent a lot of time just photographing and watching the market go by. The colors were mesmerizing and I was fascinated by the unique faces that walked past me, each one etched with a different set of lines. I finally made my way to the textile stalls and picked up some warm glove/mittens and a hat for the trek. I was beginning to realize that the weather in Peru was going to be a lot cooler than what I had expected. I also found some unique and beautiful souvenirs as well. The woven items were most impressive, and I particularly liked the ones that were made with wool colored only with organic dyes from plants and insects.

Further into the market I found a middle-aged woman sitting on the ground with a small amount of woven products laid out on a blanket in front of her. She was working as she sat there, making what looked like a belt, with one end of this makeshift loom attached to the “neighbor’s” market stall, and the other side attached to her waist. I stopped to look at her items and she gave me an easy, warm smile. I tried to ask her how much some of them cost, and it was clear that she did not speak Spanish. She looked over my shoulder and made eye contact with a man behind me who came out and translated for her. This woman was one of the roughly 13% of people in Peru who speak only Quechua. This is the language that was present before the Spaniards invaded.

I felt like I had only seen a fraction of the market before it was all of a sudden time to leave Pisac. Two hours was not enough time for me to wander through this market. Markets are one of my favorite things about visiting a new place…whether it’s a Christmas market in Germany, a fish market in Taiwan, or an art market in Brazil, there is so much to learn about the culture of the country just from this microcosm. But alas, we did have a big day ahead of us on Monday. We needed to return to Cusco so that we could begin to prepare for out three-day trek in the Andes which would start at 0400 that next morning. This was the part of the trip I was most looking forward to…some fresh air, exercise and an adventure out in nature.