The Sacred Valley

 May 7th, 2025: Sacred Valley, Peru

Greetings from the town of Urubamba, centrally located within the Sacred Valley. Today we spent the day exploring sites in the area. It was a long, full day filled with amazing sights and deep cultural experiences.

It's always a bit odd to arrive at a new hotel, especially one as lush and spread out as this one, at night. In the morning, we were able to get our first glimpse of the grounds, which are lush, beautiful, and full of tropical scents:



We walked into the town of Urubamba to visit the local market. Along the way, we noticed that the town was decorated in anticipation of a 200th anniversary celebration:

Our first stop was the market. That is always a highlight of any international trip for me. It was centered in a large warehouse, with stalls continuing in the streets for several blocks in every direction. There was everything you'd expect to find--fruits and vegetables, spices, grains, butchers, cheese--and some things you might not, like a huge variety of potatoes:






The potato aisle in Peru is like the breakfast cereal aisle in the US - a bit overwhelming!

We next headed to an Inca site called Chinchero. Our hike started at about 12,400 feet, the highest elevation that we've spent walking so far. We learned about the history of the site and of the Inca empire in general:








As we came down from that site, we visited a facility where salt is harvested. A hot spring bubbles up at this location from a depth of 3000'. As it rises, it collects minerals from the surrounding rocks, and by the time it bubbles above ground, it has a high salt concentration. Local have built over 4,000 evaporation ponds to harvest the salt. It's an impressive and unique sight:



Next, we visited a local house where a friendly couple made us a traditional lunch, which ended with a variety of fruits (all new to us!):




We all tried each fruit and declared or favorite.

Our last cultural stop of the day was to participate in two local traditions. We stopped at a farm with a beautiful view of the mountains topped with a glacier:


Three generations of women from a local family taught us how to weave corn husks:




A local shaman came by to demonstrate a ceremony of thanks. He build up a large offering with herbs, grains, and even candy. He will take it home to the mountains and ritually burn it. He ended with a hug for each of us. It was a valuable glance into the local culture:





We drove back to our hotel, enjoyed 2 hours off, and then walked into town to get pizza. I'm not going to lie and say that the pizza was great, but is was interesting, with different cheeses than we use and a variety of toppings - one student even had alpaca on his pizza! After dinner, we walked home, and gazed at the Southern Cross in the clear night sky.

Tomorrow should be a wonderful day, as we will finally reach our ultimate destination!

Everyone is doing well. Please leave any comments you wish and I will communicate then to the students. 

Best regards from Peru, and with gratitude to NEC for making this opportunity happen,

Prof. Eric J. Simon

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