Traveling on the Belmond Andean Explorer from Cusco to Puno is a unique yet fulfilling experience, a journey between mountains and clouds, at higher altitudes. Ten hours of travel, starting from Cusco and ending at the majestic Lake Titicaca, the train allows you to keep yourself immersed in the natural beauty of Andean Mountain Range.
The Incas cultivated an estimated 70 species of crops, almost as many as the farmers of Europe and Asia combined.Basically , they created an agricultural wonderland.One of the most visually stunning Inca ruins were actually very carefully designed fields that sustained the whole community. This was an Incan agricultural laboratory, conducted on an imperial scale.
Another place you can find the community culture in Peru . The mine is owned by 380 individial families .The same families have worked these salty steps solely by hand for more than a thousand years.
The most incredible thing is that these salt pans that are still used exactly as they were at the time of the Incas.The salt is hand-harvested, hand‐processed and hand‐mined for over 2,000 years and until today . Each year the rainy season dissolves the hillside and requires that the entire labyrinth of salt pans be built anew.
The Inca knew something about balance that we don’t . Yes , Macchu Picchu is definitely attractive to historians and archeologists , with Inca building techniques .
But to me , the real wonder of the world was in the perfect harmony : the man-made and the natural. The was such a complex structure , coexists with the stunning nature of the Andes so effortlessly . The most promotive and the most complex . This is the wonder .
Machu Picchu the place that has thrilled rogues and royalty alike for centuries.When the ruins were discovered , they laid smothered between layers of jungle , known only to a handful of local farmers .
From the maze of temples , getaways , palaces , chambers and squares – clinging to terraces cut from the almost vertical hillside – archaeologists pieced together the story of a civilisation that once ruled supreme in this high altitude , exotic region .
Once a country retreat for Inca royalty and nobility, Ollantaytambo is also where the Incas also fought some of their last battles . When the conquistadors arrived, it was Ollantaytambo that stood strongest and its leader Manco Inca led successful campaigns against the Spaniards
There is absolutely no better way to dive into the local culture than to visit vibrant street markets .
The Pisaq market is vibrant, fresh, local and authentic . It is not only the place to shop for unique hand made goods , and world famous textiles . It’s a place like no other to see some fascinating local characters , get an insight into the food traditions and take photos .
About an hour drive from Cusco , you will find Chinchero , known to the Incas as the birthplace of the rainbow. There are two