Today was amazing! The Castilla family invited me out to see Pisac on a glorious Sunday morning. I had been to Pisac before, a quaint town with a wonderful market. However I was in for a surprise for little did I know what was atop the hill behind the town! Inca Pisac!
The interesting thing about the Pisac ruins is that despite being the largest Inca ruins in the whole Sacred Valley, little is conclusively known about them and much is speculation, therefore I have not even attempted to summarise all I have read. One thing is for sure – the Inca terraces are still in use today. I find this quite amazing as they possible date back to the mid 1400’s.
The ruins themselves are incredible. Juan told me there were two eras at work in the masonry, which was quite evident in the style of the rock work. The skill is quite something and hard to comprehend how they could make the joins in the rock walls so precise in the earlier work. I kept thinking I wished my brother William could be here – he would appreciate it even more!
The buildings and paths were steeply built into the mountain, cleverly incorporating large boulders and the natural shape of the mountain. The views were spectacular and around every corner was something else to marvel at.
Looking across the valley from the ruins are holes scattered through the mountain side. These are tombs; thousands of them. The sad thing about looking at the holes is the knowledge that the Spaniards raided each and every one of them! The Incas believed the dead could take processions with them into the underworld so they would bury their loved ones with treasures.
Here are some of the many photos I took. If I was asked what was a “must see” in Peru then I would have to say Pisac ruins is a very close second to Macchu Piccu! It is simply amazing……