The Sacred Valley: Paradise on Earth

Following is the second in a series of articles written by Barb Osterholz about her family's visit to Peru where a son had served as a Peace Corps volunteer.

The Sacred Valley is a special place deemed "paradise on earth" by the Incas, the native South American people who once ruled one of the largest and richest empires in the Americas. The valley is a place of breathtaking beauty; snowcapped mountains, red granite cliffs, the wild Urubamba River and lush green terraces. Inca palaces, fortresses, and temples are dotted throughout this valley, along with charming Andean villages.

Leaving Cusco on a meandering bus ride up into the Andes Mountains and down again into the Sacred Valley, we arrived at one of those small villages, Pisaq. Our bus was filled with many local people dressed in their colorful native clothing as well as pieces of furniture and crates of chickens. Once in Pisaq we wandered through the market and cattle auction where we were immersed in the sights and sounds of the countryside. Stalls tended by local farmers were selling everything from a hundred varieties of corn, wooden farming tools, sheep and llamas, to fluffy guinea pigs with their beady little eyes and deep fried guinea pigs ready for the tasting.

The next morning we attended Mass at San Pedro Apostol de Pisac (St. Peter the Apostle) Catholic Church. The tiny church was filled with beautiful fresh flowers and glowing candles. Though the Mass was said in a mix of Quechua, the native Indian dialect, and Spanish, we found it to be surprisingly similar to our Masses in Menominee. There was one exception. At the end of the service several people presented items for the priest to bless -- holy cards and food, as well as a wedding dress and shoes presented by the bride herself. After Mass we again felt the warm hospitality of the Andean people who offered us a slice of cake and a cup of warm sweetened coffee as we stepped outside.

From Pisaq we rented a taxi to further explore the Sacred Valley. Our first stop was at Moray, once a gigantic crop laboratory. Enormous sinkholes, 500 feet deep and wide, harbor a cluster of microclimates. More than 500 years ago, the Incas terraced and irrigated the huge depressions in order to experiment growing corn and potatoes in a variety of elevations to mirror the various climates of the Andean empire that stretched 2,500 miles from present day Columbia to Chile.

After Moray we travelled to the Salinas Salt Mines. Here the Incas once again transformed nature with their brilliant engineering methods. A spring of warm, salty water coming straight out of the mountain is diverted into 5,740 small pools hugging the mountainside where sunlight evaporates the water and leaves a thin crust of salt. Each pool can yield 331 lbs. of salt a year. The mines are owned and worked by local farmers and have been in use for over 500 years.

Our last stop in the Sacred Valley before our final destination, Machu Picchu, was Ollantaytambo, the best preserved Inca village in Peru, with its narrow alleys, street water canals, and trapezoidal doorways. The Inca temple and fortress above town were the sight of a 1537 battle in which the Incas defeated a Spanish army led by Hernando Pizarro. One morning at dawn, Pizarro arrived at Ollantaytambo with 70 cavalry and 30 foot soldiers. But Manco Inca's men were waiting on the terraces of the sun temple. From high on the upper terraces, Manco Inca commanded his troops to fire slingshots, roll boulders, and shoot arrows at the advancing Spanish army. The Spaniards retreated, but Manco Inca pulled a final surprise. On cue, he diverted the Urubamba River and flooded the plains below Ollantaytambo, causing the Spaniards' horses to founder in the mud. The Incas fought the Spanish all the way to Cusco. However, this was only a temporary victory, for in time the Spaniards destroyed the entire Inca Empire, leaving little in their wake.

In every battle the Spanish were greatly outnumbered, however, the Inca could not match guns and cannons. Most of the Inca destruction was due to disease brought to them by the Spanish. Nearly two-thirds of the inhabitants of the Sacred Valley died of disease. The Spanish conquistadors stole the bulk of Inca gold, silver, and precious stones. The native people that were not rubbed out were reduced to slavery. They worked on Spanish plantations and in gold and silver mines that the Spanish stole from the Inca people.

One Andean jewel the Spanish never found remains beautifully intact, Machu Picchu. That was our final destination in the Sacred Valley and the subject of my next article.