Last Updated on January 24, 2024 by Tori Pines
Today we will venture from Cusco to the Sacred Valley of Peru. If you haven’t read about my adventures so far through Peru, I encourage you to start there first! I have explored Huacachina, Paracas, Cusco and Lima so far in my Peru Journals.
p.s. If you are planning a trip to Peru, please be sure to read all of my other Peru content to learn everything you need to know to plan your perfect trip!
This post may contain affiliate links for activities, destinations and products that I love, and think you will too!
Leaving Cusco
This morning we got on the bus at 7:30 so we had to be ready and down for breakfast by about 7 AM. Breakfast was included in the hotel and it was a small continental buffet. The food item options were extremely interesting, many of which we did not know what they were but there was still some watermelon, bread and cheese and most importantly, coffee.
We had to leave our luggage here in Cusco at our hotel, Hotel Prisma Cusco. The luggage is left in a safe storage room for us while we travel to Ollantaytambo and then onto the Inca Trail. (Spoiler alert: our luggage was waiting safely for us when we returned after the trail! There were no problems of theft or anything like that!)
Since we are heading off with pretty much just our hiking gear this morning, it makes everything feel a little more real! We are going to be hiking the Inca Trail soon! I was a little jittery this morning. Anxious and excited for what lies ahead. Maybe it was just the coffee? Either way the jitters were real.
Day Trip with G Adventures from Cusco to Sacred Valley
We will be spending the day going from Cusco to Sacred Valley today. G Adventures has an incredible day planned for us, driving through the beautiful valley. We will be stopping at overlooks for photos, and at small villages to learn about the people and the history of the place.
I highly recommend you book a tour with G Adventures. Seriously, they are INCREDIBLE and I cannot wait to go on another trip with them! Look I’m not even affiliated with them at all, I just want you to have a really awesome trip!
But, if you decide not to book a tour through them, you can still have a really great experience from Cusco to Sacred Valley. And I think you should add it to the top of your priority list when planning a trip to Peru! You can book a trip to the Sacred Valley here.
Cusco to Sacred Valley
As we left Cusco, we got to stop at the top of the hill that look over the city for a beautiful view of town. Up on the hill is Cristo Blanco, a huge statue of Jesus Christ that looks out over the city.
We hopped on the bus and drove for about 45 minutes to our first stop in the Sacred Valley. The first stop was the women’s weaving co-op located in a small village at the end of an extremely tight road on the side of a cliff. We were a little nervous, but made it safely. We arrived and the sweetest local women were standing at the shuttle waiting to greet us.
Weaving Co-op
They walked us up to their little Community workshop where we were immediately greeted by the most friendly faces, the llamas and the alpacas. We were given grass to feed the animals and were allowed and encouraged to pet them and take photos with them. They were so friendly and one of them even gave me a kiss on the cheek. I was in love.
I honestly could go on and on about how amazing it was to spend some time with them but I’ll just show you a bunch of adorable photos instead.
Next we enjoyed a presentation with two of the women from the village. They showed us how they make the yarn and then the products from the llama and alpaca wool. It was an extremely interesting presentation and we were all very impressed with the incredible work they were doing. Getting the wool into yarn form was a long and impressive step. But we especially loved how they dyed them to make different colors.
Using completely natural methods they can dye the yarn every color of the rainbow. They find things out in the wild that allow them to create a variety of colors. The most unique method, was using a tiny bug that lives on the cacti in the area. They squish the bug and use the blood to create a red dye. From there, they add different things to create variations of the color, from lime juice to salt. With the one bug, they can create almost 30 different shades of red, pink, orange, brown and purple!
They use plants from the woods around them as well. Over all they can create over 50 different colors. Then of course they take the dyed yarn and turn it into beautiful scarves, hats, ponchos, sweaters and so much more. My sister Ally loves to crochet, so this was especially special for her! She got to watch them create these incredible designs right in front of us!
Shopping for Alpaca Clothing
Some incredible things about alpaca clothing is that it keeps you extremely warm while being light. It has properties that allow it to not stink since it doesn’t collect scent. And also of course it’s beautiful and super soft.
Once the 45 minute presentation was over we had the opportunity to shop around and see if we wanted to purchase anything. And of course I did as there were so many beautiful pieces to buy. It was really nice to know I was supporting a small village and helping them have an opportunity to make money and raise their families. The village consisted of about 150 families which was about 800 people.
Make sure you bring Soles with you to buy their beautiful goods!
We took many pictures with the beautiful women of the village and all of their work and then sadly we had to say goodbye to them and our new alpaca friends. The next stop on our tour from Cusco to Sacred Valley is a lookout point over the beautiful valley. We arrived and our guide told us some things about the valley. While we were here, we took many pictures and just appreciated the views and the beautiful landscape.
Cusco to Sacred Valley – Pottery Village
Next, we were off to the pottery village where they started with a demonstration about how they make the mud bricks to build houses. Most of the men in the village do this for a living. The women on the other hand, make pottery to be used in the houses and to sell to the tourists. They use clay found from local quarries to mold into everything from coffee mugs, whistles, necklaces and more. But the best were definitely the chess sets, Incan people versus the Spanish conquistadors. They were absolutely adorable.
They make all of the paint themselves (similar to the women at the weaving co-op, and hand paint every single item. We got to shop in their little “store” and bought some treasures to take home.
Guinea Pig
After the pottery village, we stopped for the famous Peruvian delicacy: Guinea Pig. Yes, you read that right. The people in Peru love to eat guinea pigs. This is mostly just popular in the Andes mountains, not necessarily all over Peru. I barely eat normal meat to begin with, so there was no way you were going to catch me eating roasted guinea pig on a stick!!! But, it is a popular thing for tourists to try while they are here, so the tour guide insisted we stop.
There are so many other important things to know about Peruvian food culture, so read my Peru Food Facts article and the Best Peruvian Dishes before you go!
While the rest of the group ate, Ally, Traci (our new bff) and I posed for photos in front of the guinea pig statues instead. Yes, they make big decorated statues of the animals that they turn around and eat…I don’t like the idea but the statues were cute.
Cusco to Sacred Valley – Parwa Restaurant
Our last stop for the day from Cusco to the Sacred Valley, was lunch at the Parwa Restaurant. This is a place that was funded by G Adventures as a way to help support the community and give locals a place to work and earn a living for their families. And let me tell you, they created an incredible little restaurant in the middle of nowhere. The whole place reminded us of a spa-like resort. As we walked the paths among wildflowers, we dreamt up plans to put in a pool, massage tables and a yoga studio. It really would be the perfect little paradise to relax in for a few days. But alas, we must move on and start our hike tomorrow.
They sat us for lunch and served us more food than one could ever actually consume. The next course would arrive before we could finish the current one, they just kept coming! Everything was craftily made, delicious and so unlike the course prior. The staff was sweet and so good to us.
After lunch we had some time to relax, soak in the sun, wander through the gardens (where they grew the food they served us at lunch!!) and play a local peruvian game called Perus Sapo. It’s basically like a table top cornhole game, but played with coins instead of beanbags and 9 holes instead of 1.
Our group played an intense game of Perus Sapo, and guess who won? Yep, your girl Tori got the gold!!
Exploring Ollantaytambo
Sadly, we had to leave our little slice of paradise and be on our way to Ollantaytambo, the final stop before the trail. We made it to our hotel, which was super adorable!! We were staying at Inka Paradise. Just a block from the main square, this quaint hotel has a little garden in the center and clean rooms with alpaca blankets covering the beds. I highly recommend you stay here, spoiler alert, they had the BEST breakfast of all the places we stayed.
We still had a few hours left before sunset, so we ventured out as a group with our leader Gerry showing us around town and teaching us about the history of this place. We admired the Incan ruins on the hilltop and were in awe over the beautiful stonework of the city buildings. The original water canals still run through each street as they did hundreds of years ago.
Dinner in the Sacred Valley
We finished off the day with a group dinner at Amanto, above a shop right on the main square. There was some live music and a delicious menu filled with a variety of options. Since we were still recovering from our massive lunch, Ally and I opted for soups and a shared appetizer. We still had too much food. It was all super delicious though.
While the food was great, the best part was our amazing company. At this point we have been with our group for 48 hours, and we are basically already best friends. It is so incredibly fun to meet people from all over the world, to be paired with them at random and go through an adventure like this. I can only imagine how close we will be after the trail. We all spent the evening laughing and enjoying each others company, excited for the days to come.
Last Night Before the Inca Trail
We headed back to the hotel ready for hot showers (which were non-existent apparently in the middle of nowhere little peruvian town) and our last night’s rest in an actual bed for a while.
We found out quickly that these cute rooms weren’t so cute when they didn’t have heat and the temperature was quickly dropping below freezing…now we understand why there are 4 blankets on the beds. But we just looked at it as a practice run for camping the following three nights. It will just make us stronger, right?
We went to bed with butterflies in our stomachs. Either because we are excited for tomorrow, nervous for tomorrow, or maybe this peruvian food is finally catching up with us…
Today’s adventure from Cusco to Sacred Valley was incredible and gave us the opportunity to meet the people of the area and learn about them and their lives. We loved learning about the work they do and understanding how hard they work to get by in these small villages. You should take a tour through the valley too!
Be sure to read tomorrow’s journal as we start the 4 day Inca Trail to Machu Picchu!
