Peru Travel: Culinary Treats of the South Cusco Valley

In a valley about 40 minutes south of Cusco, travelers with an interest in local gastronomy will find 3 small towns that are worth a visit. Oropesa, Pikillacta, and Tipon are respectively renowned for their preparation of pan (bread), cuy (guinea pig), and chancho (pork).

Oropesa

Although Oropesa was inhabited from pre-Inca times, the town's history and current form is closely tied to its settlement by Spanish colonists. Travelers can appreciate centuries-old haciendas and churches that are still standing. Spanish settlers found the valley's temperate climate ideal for planting wheat and over the course of the years, bread making evolved to become the town's principal economic activity. Currently, 90% of the population is involved in some aspect of bread making. The Festival del Pan (Bread Festival) is celebrated every October. Pan chuta is the bread to try. If you can't make it to the town itself, oropesanas (women from Oropesa) rise before dawn to travel to Cusco to sell their bread at markets and along side streets.

Tipon

Above the town of Tipon are an amazing set of ruins that grandly display the hydraulic engineering genius of the Inca. Fountains spring from nowhere, multiplying, converging, and diverging in a construction that is almost poetic. Tipon was also a site of agricultural experimentation and terraces at varying altitudes served to test which crops could grow at which elevations.

The town of Tipon below specializes in preparing cuy, or guinea pig. Cuyerias (or cuy restaurants) abound along the main road. There are 2 preparations to choose from: cuy al horno or cuy chactado. The first is baked; the cuy is stuffed with herbs and rubbed with spices and then baked in a clay oven. The second is fried; the cuy is pressed flat, breaded, and deep fried. Both preparations are served with tallarines (spaghetti noodles), rocoto relleno (stuffed pepper), and potatoes. You can also enjoy cuy whole or ask to have it chopped into 4 pieces.

Pikillacta

About 4km down the road from Oropesa, most travelers stop in Pikillacta to visit the pre-Inca ruins from the Huari culture. After the exotic meal of cuy, chancho (pork) may seem a bit boring, but there a multiple chancherias (pork restaurants) that might tempt you. Some of the dishes you might find on the menu are: chicharron, deep fried chunks of pork served with typical Peruvian sides; adobo de cancho, which is a hearty pork stew; or grasa de chancho.

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Sacred Valley of Cusco

Cusco, considered as the archeological capital of America, is an exquisite land that combines mountains, valleys and jungle. Machu Picchu is the most visited and known tourist destiny in the city, but it's definitely not the only one. For those tourists who are looking for a different experience, there is the Sacred Valley of Cusco, the center of Inca civilization between the 14th and 15th century, with its unique geographic and climatic characteristics.

Known as the Sacred Valley of the Incas as well, it's located in the northwest of Cusco, about an hour drive from the city. This place is the valley of the Urubamba and Vilcanota River -a section of the previous one-; and it is surrounded by many archeological sites and small villages. Visitors who want to get a deep glimpse into the daily life of the indigenous residents, and those who want to get a feel of how ancient life felt like, this is the perfect place. Many villagers still live the same way their ancestors did before the Spanish conquest, by engaging in typical Andean activities such as working the land with ancient tools, and living off trade and barter. The dense forest surrounding the valley made it impossible for the Spanish conquistadors to pass through, thus letting their inhabitants live an uncontaminated life.

Incas were well versed in cosmology, and if you are also interested in the subject, Urubamba river is exactly what you are looking for. Incas were convinced that this river was connected to the constellations and the mountains, as if it were the linked counterpart to the Milky Way.

The Sacred Valley is a great starting point for your trip to Machu Picchu. If you like peace and want to enjoy the view without sacrificing comfort, choosing from the plethora of train options becomes a must. But if you love adventure, you should definitively take the Inca trails. These are an amazing web of pathways that wind through the mountains and rivers of the Urubamba river basin, and which let you enjoy not only spectacular views, but also the local flora and fauna. This route is considered one of the best treks in the world.

The regular Sacred Valley tour-day takes you to Pisac, Ollantaytambo, Chinchero, and, some of them include the town of Moray.

Pisac

This town is located about 33 Km from the city of Cusco, and is famous for its market and ruins. It has two archeological quarters, an ancient one and another from the Spanish colonial times. Sunday market is its main attraction, not to be missed. Here you'll find beautiful handcrafts and artisan works from the community, some of which attract hundreds of visitors every day. Every Sunday, at 9:30 am, there is a traditional Mass in Quechua at the local church.

Ollantaytambo

Located 21 Km from the town of Urubamba, it contains several archeological sites such as the Temple of the Sun, the Royal Hall, the Incahuatana and the Princess Baths -Baños de la Princesa. You can also find here preserved areas, such as Hanan Hacaypata; some of which provide horseback tours and mountain bike tours.

Chinchero

At about 28 Km from Cusco city, Chinchero was considered Tupac Inca Yupanqui's royal house. Later on, it passed to be a colonial temple. It is visited by many tourists from around the world mainly due to its central attraction: the market. This is an important place for trade, barter, and experiencing real life exchange of Andean culture. The knit works of Chinchero are amongst the best in the world, and a visit to Cusco is never complete without a visit to this very special community who's managed to conserve their traditions throughout the centuries.

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Moray - Cusco

The archeological complex of Moray is located at 33 miles from Cusco, following the road that goes to the Urubamba Valley, to the northwest. From an aerial view, Moray formations seem to be huge hollows, built as enormous and perfect circular amphitheaters. However, being actually there at those amazing pre-Columbian constructions can be one of the most extraordinary experiences while visiting Cusco rand the Sacred Valley of Incas. This is not only because of the impressive landscape. It is also because of the information that you will receive from the expert regional guides about the theories on the origins of Moray, the reason for building it and its functionality during the times of the Inca Empire.

Origins of Moray
Several theories tried to explain the origin of Moray and its amphitheaters. There is a simplistic theory, which appears whenever the human activities are difficult to clarify: an extraterrestrial incursion. A second theory, suggests the hypothesis of a meteorite storm, which produced such huge holes in the ground. Then, the population from the Inca Empire took advantage of those formations for building their amphitheaters. Of course, a third theory attributes the whole construction of Moray's system to the ancient inhabitants of these lands.

Even when the first two assumptions were true, the Incas have had to perform a tremendous job during the excavation of the circular downward platforms around the walls of each hollow. These were built like perfect concentric circles, laid out as terraces 23 feet wide. Some of the hollows reach depths of 500 feet. This alone represents the work of thousands of people during several generations of hard labor.

Moray: the Agriculture Lab of Incas
The first investigators saw the Moray archeological complex as a group of amphitheaters used for performing and musical arts, due to their similitude with the ancient Greeks' structures. However, modern studies have determined the real reason for the existence of these constructions. The Incas used the circular platforms for experimental agriculture. This new perspective is based in several evidences. The construction in descending platforms allowed the creation of microclimates. In fact, the temperature and other indicators in the surface are typical of mountain weather. While descending, the central platforms are surrounded by a subtropical climate. And, if you reach the very bottom, you will be able to experience a tropical weather.

Investigations indicate that these circular constructions were something like an agriculture lab. The Incas used the difference between platforms in order to acclimate their vegetables. By planting potatoes in the surface, for example, and after subsequent progressive transplants to the inferior platforms, season by season, they were capable to adapting the tubers and other vegetal products to the jungle environment. By following similar procedures, the Incas found the method to exchange vegetal food from the mountains to the rainforest and vice versa. This is also one of the multiple evidences of the particular interest of Incas about the environment integrity.

The Moray Unique Experience
The only presence of these unique constructions at 10500 feet of altitude is enough to astonish the visitor. The irrigation channels, the system of stairs to pass from platform to platform, the acoustic quality of the amphitheaters are some of the many wonders that you will be able to enjoy there.

Back in the day, most of the tubers, corn and other crops were generated directly from Moray. Take into consideration that Peru counts with more than 3000 varieties of potatoes, among other impressing numbers of agricultural products, most of which may have been engineered at Moray. Thus, you will be visiting what could be the cradle of modern day crops that are currently consumed all over the world!

This article was written by a Peru Travel expert at Peru travel Now, available to help you custom design your exciting Peru Tours

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