Colourful sunday market in town Chinchero is much less tourist-orientated than the market at Pisac.

Woman in Chinchero before Sunday mass. Chinchero is believed to be the mythical birthplace of the rainbow.

Area around Chinchero is famous for weaving which is possiblle to spot on every corner.

Sunday mass in Chinchero. Chinchero is a small village in the Sacred Valley between Cusco and Urubamba. Sits at 3765m about 30km from Cusco

Corn, corn, corn. There are more types than in any supermarket which is shocking mostly for tourist from Europe or States.

An old Inca wall borders the market full of locals in traditional dress.

The market in Chinchero is both traditional with locals bartering over produce and shopping for clothes – and tourist-centered.

Llanganuco valley has two lovely lakes, Laguna Chinancocha and Laguna Orconcocha. Chinancocha (on the picture) means "female lake", Orconcocha (from "urqu" in Quechua language) male lake. Llaganuco valley is part of Huascarán National Park in Cordillera Blanca in the Andes.

Laguna Parón is the largest lake in the Cordillera Blanca. In background (right) Pirámide de Garcilaso (5885 m) and Parón (5600 m).

View from slope near base camp Artesonraju (4770m). Artesonraju is the mountain depicted in the Paramount Pictures logo with its summit ringed with 22 stars.

Common sight during the Santa Cruz trek, the most popular trek in Huascarán mountain and the second after Inca trail.

Laguna Arhuyacocha (4420m). Althought close to the Santa Cruz trek main trail, lake Athuyacocha is quiet because visit the lagoon required detour and steep ascent from the main route.

View during the Santa Cruz trek. Laguna Jatuncocha in backround.

Taulliraju is a mountain in the Cordillera Blanca in the Andes of Peru, about 5,830 metres high. View from Taullipampa campside.

The Taulliraju is probably one of the mountains most photographed of the Cordillera Blanca. Well - after the Alpamayo of course. Name Taulliraju came from quecha Taulli: little blue flower of the zone and Raju: mountain of snow.

The road between Yamanou and Yungay. View from upper part definitely worth stopping. From some parts of the road is possible to see lakes in Llaganuco valley.

Cuy, one of Peru's most famous dishes is fried or roasted guinea pig. Peruvian delicacy. Two popular dishes are cuy chactado, a dish native to Arequipa which is squashed under stones then fried; and cuy al palo, where it's roasted over a spit.

Guinea pigs seller at market in Caraz. This is part of Andean culture and guinea pigs also have a very important nutritional value.

Guinea pig, market in Caraz.

Traditionally guinea pigs are served with teeth, claws and all as a kind of kebab on the local streets. Mercado San Pedro in Cusco.

In a cathedral in Cusco hangs a replica of Da Vinci’s Last Supper, in which Christ and the 12 disciples are seated around a platter of cuy.

Moray lies in a remote area of the Sacred Valley. Moray look like a Roman amphitheater. They are circular in shape and have stair like terraces climbing up to the valley floor above. The full purpose behind these concentric terraces isn’t fully known. However, it is widely believed that the ruins were once an agricultural laboratory used by the Incas. Their depth, design, and their orientation with regard to the sun and wind are all telltale signs that they have a specific purpose.

Because of the different conditions at each level of the terraces there is a difference in temperature of 15 °C from the top to the bottom. It is thought that the Incas used the terraces and the different temperatures to test crops and experiment with them. The different micro climates at the different levels allowed them to study wild vegetation. They used hybridization and modification to adapt crops to make them suitable for human consumption.

Salinas de Maras is located along the slopes of Qaqawiñay mountain, at an elevation of 3,380 m in the Urumbamba Valley, 46km outside of Cusco, Peru. This salt mine is a complex network of nearly 3,000 salt pans, shallow pools that are filled by a hypersaline underground spring.

These salt pans are believed to have been developed in pre-Inca times (pre-1430 AD) and today are active hand-harvested by local families during the dry season, May through November. The naturally pink salt gets its beautiful hue from trace elements in the spring water, including calcium, magnesium, silicon, and potassium.

Salt is harvested from the patchwork of shallow pools via a process of evaporation. A natural spring feeds a salt-rich stream that flows down into the pools, which are then opened and dammed individually as needed. Once one of the pools is filled, the water is allowed to evaporate, and then the salt crystals are scraped off the ground with simple instruments. Then the whole process begins again.

The area is not widely industrialized, and the salt is still just bagged up, packaged, and sold at market. Salt is still harvested by the community of local families who control the salt pans, the transport roads to the valley, and generally the entire salt production from the site, which remains much the same as as it was when the Inca discovered it over 1,000 years ago.

The owners of the salt ponds must be members of the community, and families that are new to the community wishing to propitiate a salt pond get the one farthest from the community. The size of the salt pond assigned to a family depends on the family's size. Usually there are many unused salt pools available to be farmed. Any prospective salt farmer need only locate an empty currently unmaintained pond, consult with the local informal cooperative, learn how to keep a pond properly within the accepted communal system, and start working.

Many of the indigenous women still wear hats. For men or young people is more common to wear baseball-style caps. Market in Caraz.

Selling anything in any quantity and quality is still common everywhere in Peru.

Pea-lady near Mercado San Pedro in Cusco. Not just on official markets but on every corner or any empty space on the street is a spot for supermarket. Well... kind of.

Mercado San Pedro in Cusco. Sexy heads and sexy legs. Well...

Mercado San Pedro in Cusco is THE place to get fresh meat..

Tasty embryos? Have some. Mercado San Pedro in Cusco.

Street market in Cusco.

Cute snouts. San Pedro market in Cusco.

No, she is definitely not a dentist. Just selling delicasy.

There is chance to get anything in local market. Mandarins and a baby with rabies too.

Cheese lady, San Pedro market, Cusco.

Mercado San Pedro, Cusco.

The city of Cusco was the capital of the Incan Empire and was placed on the list of World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1983. It is the most touristically developed area in Peru; tourism is by far the largest industry and infrastructure is extremely well developed. Quechua is spoken by many residents of the city along with Spanish. There is the flag of the city (left) and Perú on the picture.

Population of Cusco is around 500 thousand. Tourism starting in the early 2000s, bringing in more than 1.2 million tourists per year. In 2002, the income Cusco received from tourism was $837 million USD. In 2009, that number increased to $2.47 billion USD.

Famous interlocking stones at Cusco. The real masterpiece of Cusco is a 12-angled stone, guarded and usually surrounded by tourists.

The stones are so closely spaced that a single piece of paper will not fit between many of the stones. This precision, combined with the rounded corners of the blocks, the variety of their interlocking shapes, and the way the walls lean inward have puzzled scientists for decades.

The method used to match precisely the shape of a stone with the adjacent stones has been the focus of much speculation and debate. Various theories put forward include: stone softening using a mysterious liquid derived from a plant, mineral disaggregation from the heat generated from large sun mirrors, and even extra-terrestrial intervention.

Local women in traditional dresses pose for tourists.

Streets of Cusco. Lady with her pet is waiting for a bus.

There are plenty of religious acts, masses of festivities, processions and presentations of diverse dances in Cusco during the whole year.

Pilgrimage to the Sanctuary ofSeñor de Huanca is not just a pilgrimage itself but a week long music, dancing, and processions which take place all over the region.

Machu Picchu. Abandoned (but not lost) in the sixteenth century and invaded by the Andean forest, became a place forgotten even by the people who built it.

Quiet spectacular view early morning after clouds and fog disappeared.

Ruins of Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu as the backdrop. The most common picture of Machu Picchu.

Huayna Picchu mountain, Machu Picchu ruins and city of Aguas Calientes (right), the base for almost every single visitor of the area.

The best view is probably from the summit of the Machu Picchu Mountain. The summit is in 3040m - Machu Picchu ruins are at between 2,400-2,600m, Aguas Calientes is at around 2,000m).

The Incas built a city of stone, without the aid of wheels or iron tools. This is the best example of Inca engineering. More than 600 terraces to prevent the city from sliding down the mountain and a water supply system.

Some of Machu Picchu’s white granite structures have stonework as highly refined as that found in Cuzco.

Guard house visible through many of Machu Picchu gates.

Machu Picchu is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, both cultural and natural.