At 9678 feet above sea level is Pisac, a district of the province of Calca. It is located 21 miles northeast of the city of Cuzco, in Peru. It is virtually the front door of the sacred valley of the Incas and is one of its main tourist centers. Pisac’s first known inhabitants would most likely have come from the Wari and Tiahuanaco cultures. Eventually this entire region remained under the control of the Inca empire.
Pisac is a town with very important archaeological sites that are a fusion of the Incas mystical constructions and the natural richness of the Urubamba’s valley. The valley has a temperate climate, spectacular landscapes and many different archaeological circuits along its course all the way to Ollantaytambo, its last village. The train to Machu Picchu disembarks from here.
Due to the limited cultivated area of this region, the old settlers of the Andes developed a system of terraces in the slopes of these hills. This created new land so named “andenes” that are a great example of engineering and are very common in this region. The “andenes” had two functions: to harvest crops and as a system of irrigation.
Pisac is also famous for its Sunday fairs that are usually very crowded. They take place in Pisac’s main square where the artisans barter to the public their beautiful and varied decorative ceramics and the colorful textiles for sale. It is anecdotal to indicate that in Pisac the “trueque” or exchange of goods, as a form of payment, is still being used and that their dominical masses are in Quechua.
The word Pisac derives from the Quechua word “Pisaq” or “P' isaqa” that means partridge which is a very common kind of bird in this region.
Pisac ceramics: The artisans of Pisac are famous by their ceramics, in which they use particular clay of this region. Most of their crafts are utilitarian, like the colorful hand painted plates, the ash trays with Andean representations, the matte tones candleholders, the ornamental pots and the well-known “Salamanca” that is a vase in where the old inhabitants of this region, when making long trips through the Inca empire, carried hot drinks like the “mate de coca”, or cold drinks like the “chicha de jora” and they stayed without any variation of temperature per hours. The “Salamanca” has a wide and hollow base, by where the native people used to put the drink, and in the top it has a spout to pour the liquid. It is also beautifully hand painted, using Incas’ designs in bright colors. The “Salamanca” has the particularity, by its internal design that it doesn’t matter if the vase is placed upside down, it will not spilled the stored liquid by the hollow base.
Cuzco Chess set: The famous chess game is also part of the diverse supply of handicrafts offered by the dedicated artisans of this region. The chess game includes pieces done in ceramics and delicately hand-painted; the board is made of wood and painted representing scenes of the Andean region. The game represents in a very particular form Spaniards facing the Incas during the Spanish conquest of Peru.