The Sacred Valley and Aguas Caliente

Tomorrow morning we head up to Machu Pichu at 6am and after the Inca ruins we have seen the last couple of days I now don´t know what to expect. Machu Pichu is supposed to be the most amzing and complete Inca ruins however what we have seen so far has already blown me away. We set off yesterday morning from Cusco to Pisco where a bustling handicraft market lightened our wallets yet again. It is hard to pass up nice Alpaca wool jumpers for $15.
On the mountain above Pisco was the first amazing Inca temple that we visited. Huge stone blocks that had been brought in from 33km away and hauled up the mountain fit together so well that you could barley feel the joins when you ran your hands over them. One of the common themes for Incan temple sites was that they are all either astronomically significant in terms of the way shadows were cast from the surrounding mountains or they were strategically placed geographically. Pisco overlooks the convergence of three steep valleys and the views are incredible.
After Pisco we went on to Ollantaytambo, another Inca site along the sacred valley. It was just as impressive with an incredible set of terraces used for agriculture carved laser like into the mountain. Under each terrace is a layer of dirt then sand then small rocks then large rocks with precise drainage allowing irrigation from one to another. The engineering effort required to do this as perfectly as they did is astounding.
We stayed the night in Ollantaytambo and this morning caught the train to Aguas Caliente which is the town at the bottom of Machu Pichu. Aguas Caliente would have to be one of the more bizarre places I have ever been to. Fifty years ago it barley existed but as the tourist traffic to Machu Pichu has grown so has the town. The only way in is by train and the only road is a short one running from the town to the base of Machu Pichu. The tiny space it occupies in the bottom of a valley with towering sheer faces of rock around it has resulted in a dense, steep collection of restaurants, cafes, hostels, shops and markets all in a space that measures no more than about 400m by 100m. During peak season about 5000 people a day visit Machu Pichu and every hostel and hotel in town is booked out and the restaurants are pumping. At the moment it is a little quieter and most of the tourists seem to be Argentinians and Chileans on summer holidays. It is full of people either completely shagged out after completing the four day Inca Trail or people pumped up in anticipation of a visit to Machu Pichu the next day (as we are).