What an adventure we had today! We had the very nerve wracking experience of travelling by  colectivo to the town of Pisac. These minibuses do a circuit … Cusco- Pisac- Calca and the fare is 6 soles (£1.20) each for a 45 minute journey. You arrive at colectivo street, real name Calle Puputi, where the sound of people shouting Pisac.! Calca! is cacophonous. We got on a bus and waited for more people to arrive (they don’t leave til the bus is full). We were the only tourists on the bus and everyone getting on after had a good stare. Then off we went for the most hair-raising journey round switch backs and hairpin bends. The scenery was lovely but went by in a blur as the driver, one hand on the wheel and the other holding his phone, overtook everything and seemed to reluctant to reduce speed or change gear. All we passengers were thrown from side to side - but we survived 😂

We took a taxi from town to the entrance of the ruins thankfully the driver was more sedate! The time we spent wandering around the archeological site was great. We started the trek in rain and ended it in sunshine. So typical of the Peruvian ‘summer’ so were told.  I was so delighted by the profusion and diversity of flowering plants on the mountainside, from massive prickly pear flowers to the most vibrant and delicate plants growing in the cracks in the stones. 

We were at first charmed by the llamas grazing the terraces and then slightly alarmed as one of the males got a bit frisky and pursued a female til she was on her knees in submission! In the pursuit a few tourists had to run to safety! 

We hiked down into the town via a long decent through the terraces, down rough stone steps and eventually found the market in the town square… it is all very beautiful. On the way we noticed a man knitting the most beautiful jumpers from alpaca wool. The whole town is very calm and picturesque. It’s a haven for expats and hippies! A lot of alternative medicines, crystals and chakras! Somehow the divide between rich and poor was more obvious in Pisac…

We found a cafe for a quick snack ‘Roots Rock Café where we met a friendly French toddler who took a lot of persuading to leave… she kept coming back for a smile and a wave.. very cute. 

For the return journey we got to the pick up point and were hassled to get on a bus but we refused as there were not two seats together. We said we’d wait. The other passengers were all keen to get on the road so rearranged themselves so that we could sit together! The journey coming back was similar, only worse as I was sitting on the side of the sheer drop!

Crossing the pass between Cusco and Pisac

Rio Vilcanota flowing through Písac town 

The funniest looking tuktuk I’ve ever seen. They seem to confined to Pisac 

Looking back down as we prepared to climb up. We could see the rain coming our way 

Taking shelter but still laughing 

Cheerful chap

The amazing terraced mountain side. At this point it was raining quite hard but we didn’t care 

Looking across the terraces towards the citadel 

Not very clear from this picture but there is complex of ruined buildings on top of the mountain that formed the main part of the citadel 

Fairly tame llama 

Prickly pear

Looking back across the terraces from the citadel 

Happy hikers 

The top of the citadel. 11529 feet above sea level. Over three times the height of Snowdon. 

Lovely llama. In the background there was some amour between llamas 😂

We headed across these terraces for our journey down 

An incredible rubbish collection station on the mountain side. One basket for organic waste, the other for nonorganic waste. 

Cacti flower 

Another cacti flower 

The beautiful walls on a settlement on the terraces 

Sun is out 🌞 

Don’t look down 

Pisac town below

Prickly pear flower 

Brave girl heading down 

At the bottom 

Always such lovely produce on these markets 

The traditional garments are not just worn for the tourists.