INCA PISAC.

Pisac is a Peruvian village, 28 kilometers away from Cuzco, Peru, in the Sacred Valley of the Incas, along the Vilcanota River. Its large market is opened every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday, an event that attracts heavy traffic of people.
One of the Sacred Valley's finest remaining Inca archaeological site, is the beautiful ruins at Pisac at 3,347 meters above sea level. The citadel lies in the mountainside high above the village, on a triangular plateau with a plunging gorge on either side, atop a hill at the entrance to the valley, at its Eastern end. The main part of the ruins is 20-30 minutes down the mountainside. To walk from town, a steep 4 kilometers trail starts above the West side of the church. It is a two-hour climb and 1 1/2 hour return. The citadel is 3.5 kilometers away from the village of Pisac.
The ruins are spread out over a large area and follow a long mountain top crest and constructed from exquisitely carved pink granite. They are separated along the ridge into 4 groups: Pisaqa, Inti Watana, Calla-Casa, and Quinchi-Raqay.
The Inti Watana group are the ones further down the mountain and includes the Temple of the Sun, baths, altars, a ceremonial platform, water fountains, and an Inti Watana (a ritual stone associated with an astronomical clock and a calendar).
The Temple of the Sun is built on a huge protruding spur of volcanic rock, carved into a "hitching posts for the sun." The angles at its base served to define the changes of the seasons. It was aligned with the sun's position during the winter solstice. The stone held the position of the sun along its annual path in the sky. At midday on the equinoxes the sun stands almost above the stone, casting no shadow at all. On June 21, the stone casts the longest shadow on its Southern side and on December 21, a much shorter one on its Northern side.
Calla-Casa, which is built onto a natural spur and overlooks the Sacred Valley, is known as the citadel, the core fortified side of the town considered its defensive core.
The archaeological complex is surrounded by a vast sweeping agricultural terraces which harmoniously blend into the natural curvature of the landscape. The Inca constructed the most impressive an important agricultural sector on the site. Agricultural terraces were built on the steep hillside, around the South and East flanks of the mountain in huge and graceful curves, joined by diagonal flights of stairs made of flagstones set into the terrace walls. They created the terraces by hauling richer topsoil by hand from the power lands. The terraces enabled the production of surplus food, more than would normally be possible at altitudes as high as 11,000 ft. The terraces are still in use today.
With religious, military, and agricultural structures, the site served a triple purpose. It defended the Southern entrance to the Sacred Valley, while Choque-Quirao (buildings and terraces at levels above and below the truncated hill top, Sunchu-Pata), defended the Western entrance, and the fortress at Ollantay-Tambo defending the Northern.
The sanctuary of Huanca, site of a sacred shrine, is also near Pisac village. Pilgrims travel to the shrine every September. The Huanca people, after fierce fighting, were conquered by the Inca Pachacutec and incorporated into the Inca Empire. Their language differed significantly from the Incas' Quechua.
Willka Raymi meaning "greatgrandson" or "lineage," is a celebration that is held annually on August (24th) in the archaeological complex. It is the representation of the traditional offering ceremony to the Mother Earth (Pacha-Mama).
The Machu-Condor -Sanqa, meaning "the cliff of the Old Condor,"on the border of the district, lies on the right bank of the Vilcanota River. The mountain is about 4,200 metres (17,780 ft) high.
Pisac was once the site of a vital Inca road which wound its way through the Sacred valley to the borders of the Eastern Jungle. This made it an important connecting route for the Inca Empire and the city of Paucar-Tambo, giving to Inca Pisac a strategic controlling point, because of its elevated position.
There were 24,000 miles in the Inca road system that linked mountain peaks and tropical lowlands and crossed rivers and deserts. Even today the roads runs through Andean communities in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile.