Peru - Lonely Planet Publications [212]
Ulrike’s Café (20-3195; Plaza Constitución; veg/meat menú S17/20, mains from S11; 9am-9pm) This sunny cafe serves up a great vegetarian menú, plus homemade pastas and melt-in-the-mouth cheesecake and brownies. There’s a book exchange, DVDs and special events such as yoga classes. English, French and German are spoken.
Restaurante Cuchara de Palo (20-3062; Plaza Constitución; mains S25; 7am-9pm) This cozy, classy place inside Pisac Inn offers the finest dining available in downtown Pisac, and very fine it is too. It offers the sorts of interesting combinations – like quinoa in the style of Chinese fried rice – that give cocina novoandina (New Andean cuisine) a good name.
Getting There & Away
Buses to Urubamba (S2, one hour) and Cuzco (S2.70, one hour) leave frequently from the downtown bridge between 6am and 8pm. Many travel agencies in Cuzco also operate tour buses to Pisac, especially on market days.
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PISAC TO URUBAMBA
Between Pisac and Urubamba is a series of pretty villages (as well as the large-ish, untouristed and fairly uninteresting town of Calca), which can easily be explored in a day. Yucay and Huarán offer boutique accommodation and food options, and make excellent bases for leisurely exploration of the safe, scenic Sacred Valley and its many intriguing side valleys.
The Patabamba community tourism association (984-78-4368) offers a fascinating participative demonstration of the weaving process, all the way from picking the plants to making dyes, to shearing sheep and setting up a loom – with explanations of the meanings of colors and patterns. Campsites and homestays are available with advance notice. To get here, hire a taxi from Cuzco for about S30 each way. Chaski Ventura (23-3952; www.chaskiventura.com; Manco Cápac 517) also offers a day trip.
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URUBAMBA
084 / pop 2700 / elev 2870m
Urubamba is an unavoidable transport hub whose relatively low altitude and proximity to Machu Picchu has made it popular with package tours. Hotels and restaurants here are mostly geared towards large groups with their own transport. Urubamba offers little of historical interest but it is surrounded by beautiful countryside, enjoys great weather and makes a convenient base from which to explore the extraordinary Salinas and the terracing of Moray.
Orientation & Information
Urubamba is quite spread out, so expect to do a lot of walking or pay for mototaxis (three-wheeled motorcycle rickshaw taxis). A standard mototaxi ride around town costs S1. The bus terminal is about 1km west of town on the highway. The Plaza de Armas is five blocks east and four blocks north of the terminal, and is bounded by Calle Comercio and Jirón Grau. However, most hotels and restaurants are on or near the highway. Banco de la Nación (Mariscal Castilla s/n) changes US dollars. There are ATMs at the grifo (gas station) on the corner of the highway and the main street, Mariscal Castilla, and along the highway to its east. Clínica Pardo (984-10-8948), on the highway a couple of blocks west of the grifo, offers medical attention.
Activities
Many outdoor activities that are organized from Cuzco (Click here) take place near Urubamba, including horseback riding, via-ferrata rock climbing, mountain biking, paragliding and hot-air balloon trips.
Perol Chico (984-62-4475; www.perolchico.com), run by Dutch-Peruvian Eduard van Brunschot Vega, has an excellent ranch outside Urubamba with Peruvian paso horses. Eduard organizes horseback-riding tours that last up to two weeks; a one-day trip to Moray and Salinas costs roughly US$150. Advance bookings are required.
Cusco for you (79-5301; www.cuscoforyou.com) offers horseback-riding and trekking trips from one to eight days long. A one-day horse trip to Moray and Salinas costs about US$89.
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