The name of our hotel is Rio Sagrado, after the river which runs through the Sacred Valley. We’re here for three nights to both see the area, and begin acclimating to the altitude we will experience in our later stops.

We started the day with another lovely breakfast at the hotel. The alpacas were out in the yard, wandering around and munching on grass.

We started by driving through Ollantaytando, a small town near our hotel. While we didn’t stop, it gave us our first look at a small Peruvian town in the Andes. Everything is colorful, and we were surprised to see tuk-tuks, which we first encountered in our Southeast Asian trip a few years ago. These are actually more sophisticated; they’re still three wheelers, based on a motorcycle with a carriage appended to the back, but they enclose the driver and passengers to a greater extent.

Our first stop was an archeological site which was a fortress that guarded the Sacred Valley against intruders. It was built between two mountains, looking almost like a terraced farm, but there was no farming here. At the top are unfinished military structures, reflecting the rapid collapse of the Inca society after the arrival of Pizarro and the Spanish conquistadors in 1529.

As you can see in the picture above, in addition to looking at the ruins, many visitors climb up to see the military ruins and the views from the top. We both had some trepidations, but decided to take it slow and see how far we could get.

Sally made it up the the red circle, which was pretty good considering this was only our second day at altitude. I decided to continue up, and Sally down to some shade.

We all found the climb somewhat breathtaking, as in, we needed to catch our breath after we finished (Marisol less so than Sally or me).

As we headed to our lunch reservation, we stopped on Ollantaytambo to walk around and get a look at the town. We had driven through several times already, but never stopped there.

Our lunch was at a mansion that has been converted to a restaurant, The place is exquisitely furnished and decorated, and has an outstanding collection of Peruvian artifacts. I didn’t take any pictures of them because I found them boring 🤨.

Our last stop was at a the Seminario Ceramics Workshop, a studio where they manufacture both unique pieces and mass-produced pieces. Sally does ceramics as a hobby, and was very interested to see some of the artisans at work, and to learn about the studio’s processes.