The Sacred Valley of the Incas History
The Incas saw the Sacred Valley of the
Incas, which is separated from Cusco city by the high rolling farmland and
llama, Alpacas pastures of the Chinchero massif area, as the reflection of the
Milky Way. The Inca Valley was literally heaven on Earth, and for the Incas,
sons of the Sun no less, this was home.
It was from the temple-pyramid at
Ollantaytambo temple, in the heart of the Valley, which the Ayar Brothers (Inca
Mythology), the Inca founding fathers, had emerged. The direct, mystic
connection with the stars, the Gods, was destroyed by the conquistadores four
and a half centuries ago. But up in the side-valleys and highland districts it
has been kept vividly alive and today many Peruvians and foreigners are trying
to recapture the connection, seeking new inspiration from a tradition as old as
the better known religions of the East.
The Sacred Valley is at the heart of
this new search and even the most down to earth visitor senses quickly that
this is a special place. They know, partly because they can see it in front of
them, that they are in the heart of several millennia of history, the history
not just of the Incas and their predecessors but of civilization itself.
The
splendid road networks up, down, and across these huge ranges at almost
superhuman heights, the literally incredible ruins and the massive agricultural
terraces are among the great achievements of our race, something, here in the
Valley, we can see, touch and think about. From great snow peaks like
Pitusiray, Chicon, the Veronica and Salcantay the Apus, local gods, look down
on pleasant towns, charming, oxen-ploughed fields and thousands of valley side
terraces? The climate is benign, warm clear air, at 9,200 feet above sea level,
a comfortable 2000’ lower than hard-to-breathe high-altitude Cusco.
They also
look down on Machu Picchu, Ollantaytambo and Pisaq, among the most dramatic
temple cities in the world. Today, just as it did 500 and 1,000 years ago, the
Sacred Valley provides a rare combination of power and peace, comfort and
excitement. It is one of the world’s natural theatres, like the Aegean and
Tuscany. The dozens of fiestas and processions reflect an energetic, robustly
pagan tradition overlaid by a colorfully gloomy Mediterranean veneer
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