Imagine old ruins that are still in very good shape and tell a story just as you watch them, in an amazing scenery. This is the Sacred Valley, called sacred because of its most fertile land in the region, property of the Inca Emperor himself.

We made multiple stops on the way, but some of them especially impressed us.

We started the day with a stop in Chinchero, which is considered by the Incas to be the birthplace of the Rainbow – and where they built a temple to it. Beside the terraced temple, we visited the local market and we’ve seen the plants and minerals used by the locals to obtain the different colors for the textiles.

In Moray we were able to see the amphitheater shaped terraces which apparently served as an agricultural laboratory and seed cultivation site – depending on the height and exact position of the terrace different species were planted.

Salineras de Maras was also amazing with its thousands of salt pans nestled in a canyon that have been used to harvest salt from a spring for thousands of years. I also tasted a salty chocolate here and it was delicious!

The mountain overlooking the village of Pisac, covered with terraces and religious ruins such as the Sun Temple and standing in front of another mountain on which an old man carrying a mountain was naturally sculptured. The Incas believed it was a messenger of the Sun God and prayed to it.