StarwoodGuy: Southern South America With Starwood Hotels Day 4

I left the Palacio del Inka at 10:00 am after a workout and breakfast, heading out on a tour I had planned through the hotel's T'ikariy Tour Desk. For $250.00 US I had entrance to all of the locations on my route, a private car with driver, and an English speaking tour guide to head to my next destination the Tambo Del Inka Luxury Collection hotel in the Sacred Valley after a tour of the region's sights including Chinchero, Moray, and Maras. A little pricey but well worth it considering I was on my own and not able to split the cost with a traveling companion. The tour guide was fun and well informed, asking me about Canada and the US while I asked about Peru and the area. They had packed a lunch for we with two sandwiches, two muffins, some cookies and plenty of water and gatorade. The weather forecast had rain down but we were lucky and had sun along the drive.

The first stop was Chinchero, the highest point of my trip at 12,414 ft. The small Andean village has beautiful views over the mountains, and as the locals tell you, this is the supposed birthplace of the rainbow. A walk through the village shows many old Inca structures which were built upon with mud brick houses. We stopped by and visited a site where the traditional weaving was being done and saw how the textiles were made and dyed all by hand.

From there it was on to Moray, the stunning agricultural terraces of the Incan Empire. We walked around the upper circuit to get a great view of all three of the main sites. The massive structures resembled an amphi-theatre or stadium but hearing how it was actually an agricultural testing area with different soil brought from around the Incan Empire made it an even more impressive feat considering this was centuries ago. I had no idea that many of the world's potato varieties had come from this agricultural basin, and it is still seen as a very sacred site to the locals who believe it is the birthplace of many of Mother Earth's gifts.

The last stop on the trip was the little town of Maras, but more specifically the salt flats the town uses and now exports. The drive down to the salt flats is not for the feint of heart, it is a steep cliff with no barrier, but once down the sight is quite impressive. The terraced salt evaporation ponds are fed by a subterranean stream. You can taste the water which is much saltier then sea water. The flow of the water into each of the pods is controlled, but since this was the wet season it was not the time for scraping off the salt, but some work was being down on the ponds to shore them up. It is all a communal effort, with members of the entire family working together on their own area which is passed down through the generations.

After that we carried on to the Tambo del Inka hotel in the Sacred Valley in the tiny town of Urubamba. I said goodbye to my driver and guide and the hotel staff whisked me into the beautiful lobby, brought me some coca tea and quickly had me checked in while I watched the river go by outside. I was treated to a Junior Suite upgrade, with large living area, mini bar, and dining area, then in the master bedroom another small sitting area by the window, a desk and mini bar, a large king bed, a large walk in closet, and a beautiful bathroom. I headed right out to walk around the small town, stopping at the two small churches and the town squares, and then stopped by the town's small Carnival celebration with locals drinking and spraying each other in the face with a white foam while dancing around a tree which one lady was chopping down. It was a very fun and lively environment. I headed back to the hotel and did some work, ate the lunch I had packed from my day trip and then headed down to the beautiful indoor-outdoor pool. Swimming out into the moonlight in the heated pool was wonderful. I had a quick sauna and shower in the very deluxe change room before heading back to my room for bed since the next day was my early start to Machu Picchu.