Our Day in Tipón

Since we purchased them on Saturday for the Sacred Valley tour, our Boleto Touristicos (Tourist Tickets) are valid for this week, and we figured that we should take full advantage of them.  There are 16 archeological sites and museums which are included with these passes.  Today we visited one of them: Tipón.

Tipón shares some similarities with many other Inca ruins, in that it has multiple terraces, thought to have been built for agricultural purposes.  These are different, though, in that they are all at right angles, rather than following the natural curve of the mountains like other sites.

Also unlike the other sites in the Sacred Valley, Tipón is very quiet and peaceful.  Perhaps it was just the day we visited (Wednesday, rather than Saturday), but there were maybe 30 people other than us in the entire site; compare this to last Saturday where you could not turn around without bumping into someone.

Getting There

We also decided to do this one DIY style, rather than going on a tour group.  The tour group we were with on Saturday was interesting, and the guide was very knowledgeable, but it was quite rushed and we could not go at our own pace.

To get to Tipón, we took a taxi to the main square in Cusco (S/5, or about $3 CAD).  We then caught a municipal bus which was heading that way (S/8 for the five of us).

How to explain the buses... they are smallish (maybe the size of the small Calgary Transit buses).  The Batman bus below is a good example, although unfortunately we just took the boring old Tipón bus, nothing related to any super heroes.

When the bus pulls up to the bus stop (or where ever it is picking you up from), a guy jumps out while the bus is still moving and starts shouting the destinations where the bus is going, sounding like a movie auctioneer.  You jump on as quickly as possible, and the bus is moving before you are up the stairs.

The bus drivers have some of the strongest nerves I have ever seen.  They manage to pull the bus into spaces in traffic that I would be nervous putting my old Civic into.  Lanes mean nothing - if there is a space in traffic, you go there.  Most bus drivers have the radio going as well; on the way out we were listening to a rap / pan pipe mashup of "El Condor Pasa".  I sorely wanted to take a video of part of the trip, but didn't find a good (and inconspicuous) opportunity.

Anyway, suffice it to say that we arrived in Tipón.  We then took another taxi from the main square to the archeological site.  This taxi was a mini van driven by a woman with a young (5 month old) baby.  Once again showing our Western bias, we were surprised when the driver just set the child down on the front seat, wrapped in some blankets.

This counts as a baby car seat, apparently

Tipón

Back to describing the Tipón archeological site.

In addition to the massive, right angled terraces, Tipón is famous for its irrigation channels.  The water starts from a single spring near the top, and is split into two and then four separate waterfalls.  Again, nobody is sure of the reason behind this, although it is thought to perhaps be a water temple or shrine.  (The sign called it a 'sacred font', for whatever that is worth).

The Sacred Font

After the shrine, the water is routed around each terrace, with gorgeous waterfalls and channels.  The engineering skill of the Incas is amazing.

Irrigation canal waterfall, with two outflow channels seen going left and right.

Below are some more pictures from the ruins... the entire site is 239 hectares (590 acres), and is simply gorgeous.

Looking up the gulley at the terraces.  Even ignoring the difficulty of moving all the rocks for the terrace walls, I can't even fathom how much dirt they needed to move to fill it all in!

Terran at the top ruins

Maija at the top ruins

View from the top ruins, looking down on some lower ruins and the town of Tipón

Top ruins

Lunch

After we were finished exploring the ruins, we went to the town of Tipón for lunch.  As this town is the official national capital of Cuy Horneado (baked guinea pig), we obviously had to try it.

Bienvenidos a Tipón: Capital Nacional del Rico Cuy Horneado

The taxi driver gave us a recommendation of a restaurant.  There was no menu - it was Cuy or nothing here!  They have a large wood-fired oven where the bake the cuy.

The restaurant's patio was home to a couple cats and some dogs

Maija and Terran were a bit apprehensive about trying it, but in the end they each tried some.

I found the flavour to be quite good (very similar to dark chicken meat), but there were a lot of small bones to contend with.

Regardless, when you are in Peru, you definitely need to try the cuy!

The Tipón Zoo

After lunch we headed over to the local zoo.  The entrance was just a path off the main road, and we could not see where the zoo itself was.  Well, we just had to look up... everything in this area tends to be built up the side of a mountain.  A zoo keeper soon met up with us and started to give us a guided tour.  He explained that most of this zoo's animals were rescued; from smugglers, poachers, illegal possession, etc.

They have all sorts of animals there; monkeys, pumas, hedgehogs, various birds, llamas, alpacas, vicuñas, even an Andean Condor!  The zoo keeper allowed the kids to go into many exhibits to visit with the animals.

The zoo entrance.  Not much in the way of animals visible from here...

Tortoises

A parrot named "Cook"

An African Hedgehog

Alpacas and Llamas

I think I should be jealous...

Some movies from the zoo:

A Puma

The Condor was the star of the show... very well trained, it would fly to the rock behind visitors and show off its massive wing span for a photo.

The view from the top of the zoo, looking up the ravine towards the ruins.

Dinner

After a very long day, we headed home on the bus.  We were quite excited to see that one of our fellow passengers brought a live chicken on board, in a shopping bag.  Once we got back to Cusco, we had Chifa (a Peruvian take on Chinese food), and finally went home.

Arroz Chaufa con Pollo Cinco Sabores (fried rice with a sweet and sour style chicken)