Tour Details
Portada / One Day Tours / The Sacred Valley of the Incas Full Day
The Sacred Valley of the Incas, in its route, is a tour where we as archaeologists and tour guides have included a very important place, which is the ceremonial center of Ñaupa Church, since it is in this place where we will perform an Inca ceremony of “Offering to Mother Earth or Pachamama”, to help us and guide us in our lives as human beings and to live in mutual harmony with nature.
We will also visit Ollantaytambo (urban, agricultural and religious center), Maras (salt mines), Moray (agricultural experimentation center), and Pisac (agricultural and religious center). Lunch is at noon in the town of Urubamba, which is located in the middle of the Sacred Valley of the Incas.
We want to offer a unique experience of travel and enjoyment with the Inca gods and the love and respect for Mother Earth and the Apus (sacred mountains).
ÑAUPA IGLESIA
The archaeological site of Ñaupa Iglesia or also called Choqella, which means “the old temple where the gold shines”, is located very close to the Sacred Valley of the Incas, less than a kilometer from the Pachar village.
Ñaupa Iglesia would have been the largest ceremonial center in the Sacred Valley where ceremonies of worship to the Sun God, the Moon, and the Apus and place where rituals were made offering to Mother Earth (Pachamama). A ceremonial center of great positive energy.
Choquella has two sectors, an agricultural sector formed by cultivation terraces, perhaps for the cultivation of corn, which is oriented towards the sunrise, and the religious sector or the main temple that is located in the upper part, which is a Huaca (sacred shrine), natural formation of basalt rock, trapezoidal-shaped masterfully carved, where there is a large false window where possibly these ceremonial rites were performed. And in front of it, there is another rock carved in the form of a chakana and with ornamental motifs of the stepped sign of a double jamb. It shows that it was possibly the inhabitants of Lake Titicaca who built this very important religious site.
Ñaupa Iglesia or Choqella is impressive, for those who want to make offerings to the Pachamama and the Apus, ideal for those seeking religious tourism, or being in contact with the Andean cosmos.
OLLANTAYTAMBO:
The Inca complex of Ollantaytambo is located in the famous Sacred Valley of the Incas. In the beginning, this place was occupied by one of the pre-Inca cultures called the Killke Culture, which conquered this valley in its advance from the valley of Cusco. It was in the government of the Inca Pachacuteq (1,438 – 1472 AD), that the Incas conquered this town, building an Inca town, as well as a very important ceremonial center of worship to the Sun God and Water. It also served as an entrance control point to the high jungle, where the sacred city of Machu Picchu is located and is very close to the Willkamayu river (willka; sacred and mayu; river).
After the Spanish conquest, the town of Ollantaytambo was used as a town of resistance to the rebellion of the first Inca of Vilcabamba, called Manco Inca (1536). It is in colonial times, that the ceremonial sector and other places were destroyed by the Spaniards.
Today the town of Ollantaytambo is a village where local families still use the same houses where the Inca settlers lived. Ollantaytambo is considered a “living town”. In addition to this, there are the peasant communities in the Patacancha valley, such as Patacancha and Willoq, which maintain a living culture in terms of customs, and culture and continue to speak the Quechua language.
MARAS
The Maras mines are located in the province of Urubamba, District of Maras, on the left bank of the Willkamayu river, in the Sacred Valley of the Incas.
The salt mines of Maras have been used since pre-Inca times by the Killke culture, in the Formative period, in the Inca period, in the colony, and continue to be used today by the inhabitants of the district of Maras.
Maras has more than 3,000 wells, the same that are located on one side of the mountain Qaqawiñay, from where salt is obtained, the same that are oriented towards the sunrise. The eye of water or salt water spring is located in the upper part from where the water emanates that then runs through the main water channel and then divided by other small narrower channels that fill the liquid element to the wells, which after several weeks of many suns and crystallize the salt can be harvested, The white salt is used for the preparation of meals, the same that is processed and taken to the markets of the city of Cusco, the pink salt is very recognized by the international cuisine and the dark or black salt is used for feeding animals such as cows and horses.
Today the inhabitants of the town of Maras have their economic livelihood with the salt mines, providing work in the manufacture of a variety of handicrafts, the same that is offered to Peruvian and foreign visitors, as well as the payment of income to visit this place. Maras is an excellent place to be visited and to have the opportunity to take a great number of photographs.
MORAY
The Inca site of Moray (3,500 meters / 11,480 feet), is located seven kilometers from the town of Maras, in the Sacred Valley of the Incas, northeast of the city of Cusco.
Moray comes from the Quechua language, Muyu (round) and Uruy (at the bottom or below), Aymoray (corn harvest), and Moraya or Moray (dehydrated potato).
In Inca times, Moray was a center of agricultural experimentation. It is in this place that the Inca settlers carried out the work of acclimatization of different agricultural products such as potato, corn, coca leaf, and cotton to then be taken to other places or valleys where they could not properly cultivate these resources. Knowing that in Inca times, the basis of the economy was agriculture, the Andean settlers built their territory, many agricultural complexes, cultivation terraces, and agricultural experimentation centers to sustain their progress in the conquest of new geographical areas.
For some scholars, this agricultural experimentation center, Moray could also have been a place dedicated to the prediction of meteorological phenomena and astronomical observation.
Moray deserves to be visited and explored by the visitor!
PISAC
The archaeological complex of Pisac (3,300 meters / 10,824 pies), is located in the famous Sacred Valley of the Incas at one hour and twenty minutes by car. It is very close to the sacred river of the Incas, called Willkamayu.
Pisac was built during the rule of the Inca Pachacuteq (1438 – 1472), who was the most important Inca in the history of the Incas until before the arrival of the Spaniards.
Pisac was a very important administrative, religious and agricultural center together with the sacred valley. Before the arrival of the Spaniards, it fulfilled a very important function of supplying agricultural products, mainly corn, to the capital of the Inca empire, the city of Cusco. But upon the arrival of the Spaniards, at the time of the extirpation of idolatries, this place was looted and its ceremonial centers destroyed, especially the Inca cemetery that today can still be seen on the crag of a hill near the Inca site of Pisac.
What stands out about Pisac, is its construction of houses that are located on the slope of a mountain, associated with the system of agricultural terraces that are oriented towards the sunrise. And its ceremonial enclosures such as the temple of the sun, water, and its Intiwatana (sundial) are located in the ceremonial sector.
Lunch in the town of Urubamba (in this place the tour guide will recommend a good tourist restaurant where you can enjoy Peruvian gastronomy.
Drinks.
Tips.
PRICE $230
WHAT IS NOT INCLUDED IN THE PRICE
EXTRA FEES