We flew from Lima to Cusco and then drove by bus to Pisac where we hiked up a ridge to see the ancient ruins and to enjoyed a bird’s eye view of the Sacred Valley.

The views are incredible.

This was the site of one of the Inca Emperor Pachacuti’s first conquests. Here Pachacuti defeated the Cuyos, and afterwards constructed one of his many royal estates. Emperors customarily confiscated large quantities of land for their own use.

Our guide for the hike was Nadia, a 17 year old student, who had come down from her mountain village to sell herbs and was recruited by Maricela to lead us. She spoke Quechua, the indigenous language of the Andes and is wearing the traditional Andean dress.  Each village has a unique style of clothing that identifies the wearer as belonging to that region. This girl greeted us. Her father owns the store where we bought hiking poles.

Will was part of our group. He was traveling with his parents from Alaska.

Will’s parents, Kerry and Dennis.

View of the agricultural terraces. In the Inca Empire, society was tightly organized. Land was divided in roughly equal shares for the emperor, the state religion, and the farmers themselves.

Burial sites are dug into the side of the mountain.

The next morning we rafted the Urubamba River.