Patacancha Experiential Tourism

Description: Sacred Valley Experiential Tourism

With the Sacred Valley Experiential Tourism or “Patacancha Experiential Tour”, you can enjoy PATACANCHA, a purely indigenous community native to the Incas who still preserve their culture and customs, located in the Sacred Valley of the Incas 78 km (1h 30 min) from Cusco by paved road. The inhabitants of Patacancha have a direct lineage from the last Incas, as evidenced by their surnames Sinchi, Pukha, Cusipaucar, Tupha, Yupanqui and others.

PATACANCHA, near the town of Ollantaytambo, is one of the most privileged places to learn about the Andean Tradition. They are people who are integrated into the society that respects them as equals, that is why we can see them scattered around the square and the streets of the town of Ollantaytambo. The villagers keep their culture alive in: their textiles, their clothes with colors totally striking to the eyes, handmade fabrics. The villagers know that their textiles and their culture in general is a valuable and have recovered and have put it in value for the world to value the expressions of living ancestral culture.

In addition, with the PATACANCHA LIVING TOUR we will meet the villagers who are aware of the value of their village traditions and are willing to share them with great cordiality and joy. We will combine the mountainous nature of exceptional beauty with architectural elements such as terraces and houses built with adobe and roofed with tile or ichu. Also, we will visit the villages of Rumira Sondormayo and Q’elkanka, weavers village and from the top we will approach Willoq with its beautiful wild flora and cultivated at the foot of great mountains of the Andes.

We will feel the different atmosphere of the city, we will breathe pure air of nature that will add to the intensity of the red and black that dominates the traditional dress, that is why these Inca descendants are called “Huayruros”. The costumes are very beautiful and very colorful, their ponchos woven in different shades of earth, chullos decorated with beads and buttons, embroidered monteras, ribbons, braids, hands. The spindles, balls, looms, pots with boiling dyes, dyeing plants, raw fibers, their daily life respectful of nature, activities they perform, etc.. Everything will call your attention, so come with us to meet these people, heirs of the rich customs of the Incas.

To make the experiential tourism in Patacancha is one of the visits in which one should make a must if you want to know in a better way the Andean culture, especially if you are going to make a tour to Machu Picchu, this way you will have more information about the Incas and when you travel to Machu Picchu you will know in a better way how this incredible Inca city was built.

MAIN POINTS OF VISIT

• Cusco (3,399 masl)
• Ollantaytambo (2,792 masl / 9,792 fasl)
• Patacancha (4,666 masl)

Day 1: Cusco – Chinchero – Ollantaytambo – Patacancha

• 07.00 hrs agency staff will pick you up from your hotel in Cusco.
• We head to the Sacred Valley of the Incas by the route of Chinchero. We will make a short stop at the viewpoint of Raqchi to appreciate part of the Sacred Valley. Then we will arrive to Urubamba and then to Ollantaytambo where we will make a short stop to visit this beautiful town (In Ollantaytambo is the train station that takes tourists to their tour to Machu Pichu).
• 10.00 hrs Approximately we will arrive at our destination Patacancha. The villagers will give us a very warm welcome with music, dances, and their typical costumes. Then we will be given some typical costumes and we will dress like the people of Patacancha.
• Accommodation in the rooms of the families of Patacancha and we prepare for our activities in this community:

ACTIVITY 1 – FABRIC DEMONSTRATION: In this activity we will have the opportunity to learn the traditional techniques used in the preparation of their materials, the extraction of wool and the use of natural dyes, this activity is performed by women.

• At the appropriate time we will have a typical and delicious lunch, it can be a firewood Cuy accompanied by natural products of the community or some other dish after coordination with the agency.

ACTIVITY 2 – AGRICULTURE DEMONSTRATION: This activity allows us to see first hand the ancestral activities and techniques that the people of Patacancha carry out in their chacras (cultivation lands), we will also be able to see their tools and even be part of these activities.

• Later we can take a tour of the village and graze throughout the village of Patacancha and return home with livestock such as sheep, cows and llamas.
• Dinner time, a delicious dinner typical of the Patacancha community. Bonfire at night with stories, myths that the family will tell you for the group.
• Rest in our rooms.

Lodging – PATACANCHA

Breakfast – Hotel / Lunch – Agency / Dinner – Passenger

Day 2: Patacancha – Ollantaytambo – Chinchero – Cusco

• Nutritious breakfast at the home of the family that will be hosting us, this breakfast is prepared based on Andean cereals such as beans, quiwicha, cañigua and roasted corn.
• We head about 30 minutes further up to Patacancha for our next activities.

ACTIVITY 3- PAGO LA TIERRA: Today we will know the mystical side of Patacancha, the payment to the land is a symbolic way of how the community and the family watch over their products and animals through different Andean rituals transmitted from generation to generation.

ACTIVITY 4-TINKA A LA ALPACA: it is a small ceremony where the villagers thank the Andean deities, ask for a better production and also that their animals are protected from any danger.

• Lunch “Pachamanca”. At the end of our activities we return to Patacancha where our lunch is ready. The Pachamanca, is a typical dish made from beef, chicken or other types seasoned with ingredients such as huacatay, chili, cumin, bell pepper and other spices, also additional original Andean products, such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, beans in pods and eventually, yucca cooked only on the basis of preheated stones which makes the taste is different from the typical food of the city.
• 15.00 hrs Return to Cusco. On the way back we can make stops at different viewpoints of the Sacred Valley and take pictures for the memory of our trip through the land of the Incas.
• Arrival to your hotel in Cusco.

Breakfast & Lunch – Agency / Dinner – Passenger