There are very few trips that a person can take that are better than the journey from Cuzco to Machu Pichu. No matter how you travel, you will never forget your first time there. However, one must not overlook the ruins of Pizac. Pizac captures the Inca past better than any of the other ruins. Pizac is in amazingly good condition, and from the ruins you will get a clear vision of how the Incan culture thrived before the conquest of Pizarro. The Incans at this time (1500) had much more land under cultivation. Also, the weekend market in Pizac offers some great photographic oppurtunities.


The steep mountains of the Urabamba Valley made farming very difficult for the Incans. To create enough land for farming they carved a series of terraces up and down the Urabamaba Valley. Today, the terraces are still in use by the modern day Incas. Hiram Johnson reported that when he re-discovered Machu Pichu in 1911, there were three Incan families living there. He went on to say that they were surviving by growing crops in the terraces.