The Sacred Valley is generally at a lower altitude than Cusco, and we will be going as low as 2800m, which may be a welcome relief for those suffering a bit. As we descend, the crops change from potatoes and Eucalyptus (planted for the wood) to corn. There are 1500 varieties of corn in Peru, and Ricardo promises we will see the one with the biggest kernel today.
We stop for a beautiful view over the sacred valley, and can see a glacier high in the mountains. The houses down below us have large yellow patches - corn drying out. 
We pull into Pisac town and wind our way high into the hills to reach the archeological site. From the road we see Inca terraces used for agriculture. We park and then walk along the terraces to a grassy section where Ricardo sits us down to explain.
Pisac was an agricultural site from the Inca time, high in the Andes. The Incas chose to farm so high up because they wanted to be close to the sun - their most important god. Also because the rivers and glaciers formed a natural irrigation system. They only farmed on the slopes that received a lot of sunlight, and because it was so steep, they developed terraces made of stone. Each terrace had a stone wall, with rocks and sand at the bottom, then fertile Andean soil and the maize. The steep terraces formed microclimates and so different crops would be grown on different levels. Potatoes would be grown on the highest terraces.
The incas were able to store their corn for 20-40 years, as they dried it and used special cool rooms to store it. He points out the remains of these rooms high above the terraces.
We also see holes in a large rock face nearby, like caves. These were used to bury the dead. They would place their dead in the foetal position in a large ceramic, like the one we saw in the Lima Larco museum, and wrap this in textiles before carrying to these caves. Obviously they were looted by the Spanish of any gold and treasure. We get some free time to walk to the top of the site and take photos.
Next we head back down to the town, and Ricardo leads us into a silver workshop for our "forced shopping" of the day :) There are a lot of silver mines near this part of the country. Here another guy shows us the way they make silver jewelery and inlay it with pretty stones such as turquoise, onyx, mother of pearl and other semi precious stones. He shows us the difference between real and fake silver, and he shows us the raw silver, the bronze that it is combined with, and the finished product.
We have some time to shop, and walk through the town and the market nearby. The main square is very quaint, with funky shops and restaurants, some offering organic food. The market is huge and we probably see less than a quarter of it.
Next we head to Urubamba (1hour away) for lunch. On the way, we see ladies roasting guinea pigs on the side of the road, must be for a special occasion! They hold them up proudly when they see us taking photos. 
Our group is eating in a different restaurant from the rest of the tour, the place is called Sonesta Posadas del Inca in the town of Yucay. It is a huge place, looking a bit like a wedding venue, with a cute chapel, beautiful gardens and flowers everywhere. It seems to be a hotel as well - expensive at 685 soles per night! The buffet is excellent, we indulge in lots of salads, quinoa soup, alpaca in red wine sauce, fresh veggies, fish meunière, chicken and a wide selection of yummy desserts. There's an artist playing strange South American instruments that sound like birds or animals to a soundtrack of panpipes...
The bus comes back to pick us up, and next we head to Ollantaytambo. Here we see enormous steep terraces, there are literally hundreds of steps to climb. So Ricardo is smart, he takes us a third of the way up, explains a bit, then further and explains, and then to the top. The view is great, and we can see grain storage ruins on another mountain side. Ricardo also points out a huge face near there, in the mountain rocks. He says this is the face of the creator god, Wiracocha, and shows another picture of this God, which is exactly the same. He says he thinks the profile looks a bit Spanish, and this may be why the Incas initially thought that the Spanish were Inca God messengers, and mistakenly trusted them.
Ollantaytambo is an unfinished Inca city, the Spanish arrived and stopped the work. It is composed of two parts: the agricultural terraces at the lower section, and the temple at the top. The temple is made of pink granite, but there is no granite in the mountain close to this site - it was literally dragged from another mountain pretty far away. They did this without ever inventing the wheel. Some of the stones are enormous, many tonnes! The agricultural terraces have many irrigation channels, and use the glacial water that flows down at this height.
Up at the top he shows us the sun temple, and I get in trouble for climbing on the walls! He points out the "Lego" interlocking stones that the incas used, since they never used mortar between their stones... And more clever earthquake prevention techniques, like using very small rectangular stones between the big ones to absorb the shock. Wendy and i are very dubious about some of these theories, as no one really knows that much about the incas anymore. There are also decorations on the stones, which the Spanish tried to destroy, but they can still be seen: the inca cross and their trilogy.
He shows us the real start of the Inca trail, from here to Machu Picchu. We have two options to come back down - back down the steps, or follow the "mini inca trail" which takes us up a bit further and to the right before heading down steep steps. We opt for the latter.
Back in the town square it is rather cold, and we grab hot chocolates. We don't put in any sugar, and later realize this is a big mistake. They are the worst hot chocs ever, and have small crunchy bits at the bottom, yuck!
Last stop for the day is Chinchero, where we visit a traditional textile house. More forced shopping ;) There is an adorable wooly alpaca here and although we are initially scared of it, Uncle John cuddles/wrestles it and it doesn't mind too much. 
We are all seated outside, wow it is getting really cold. This adorable local girl (maybe 15 years old) in traditional dress starts to show us how it is done. She giggles as her friends watch her presentation.
She shows us a recently shorn alpaca skin, and pulls some wool off, which she then washes using a grated local plant and water, it is amazing how white it comes out! She then pulls this into pieces of wool. She shows all the amazing colours of the natural dyes they use, and how the dying process is done. Lastly, she takes us over to the place where the textiles are spun, and shows how this is done. It is actually interesting, and she does a good job explaining. Then we have time to shop, Wendy buys a lovely alpaca scarf, which can double as a hat, and Van gets a small orange bracelet to complement his "gringo" outfit :)
We drive the two hours back to Cusco and get back just in time for our Inca trail briefing. We meet Jonathan, our trail guide, and he explains what to pack and what to expect. We also meet Kiera and Neil, from the UK, who will be joining us. We rent hiking poles for US$6 each, and head to our rooms for a manic packing session. We finally finish quite late, and just grab a pizza at Nonnas to fill the hole, before heading to bed, nervous and excited...
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