Although there is little to suggest that there was any inherent religious significance to the area as a whole, this part of the Urubamba River watershed is commonly known as the Sacred Valley. This may be a convenient designation from the tourist's perspective due to the number of ruins in the area but in fact this was the heart of the Inca Empire. The whole area was a major source of food and had the infrastructure to support the production. Most of the cities in the valley have the remains of Inca civilization in one form or another and of course there are major ruins at Pizac, Ollantaytambo and by extension, Machu Picchu.

Of the few other explanations as to why this is called the Sacred Valley, the most compelling (to me anyway!) is that the Urubamba River is a reflection of the river in the sky, the Milky Way, and that there is a connection in the flow of water (one of the essentials of life) from the earth to the heavens.

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Despite the fact that the mountains that surround it seem worlds removed from the tropical jungle, the Urubamba River is actually a tributary of the Amazon. And, although it runs through the 'Sacred Valley' it name means 'Place of the Spiders'!

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	Sacred Valley - From Cuzco to Pizac
	The Ruins outside Pizac
	The Intihuatana
	Ollantaytambo Ruins
	Ollantaytambo Town

Terraces at the ruins of Ollantaytambo.