Cusco - exploring the Sacred Valley with our guide Martin

Day two:

Today we decided to hire a private guide to take us around the Sacred Valley.  We wanted to only be on an adventure for half the day to be sure to return and get everything prepped to leave for the Inka Trail at 5am Monday morning.  It was definitely worth the cost to have the private guide because it was personalized and Martin was even from the last spot we visited.  First we stopped at Pisaq, one of the Inka villages, the salt mines and then Muray the Inka's growing laboratory.  Our last stop was Chincero a town that was built by the Spanish on top of an Inka village.  The architecture and formations of village were astounding. In many you can still see the differences in the urban areas compared to what was used for agriculture, especially the ways they used terraces to grow different types of crops because of all of the microclimates that could exist at each level.  After a long day of adventuring we arrived back to Cusco in time to grab a quick empanada as a snack and then ran around doing last minute things for the trek, including getting change in soles to have for tipping.  We are excited, yet a little anxious!! We head out for day one of the hike at 5am Monday the 10th and will return to Cusco around 10:30pm on Thursday the 14th. Until then!!