Urubamba

The Sacred Valley, lower and warmer than Cusco, was prized by the Inca because maize, their prestige crop, could be grown here, and because it was the route to the coca-growing lands further down the Urubamba. The emperor Huayna Capac, who ruled until about 1525, made the stretch of valley around today's town his royal estate, extending for about 15 km along the river. According to Spanish sources, he set a vast workforce to reroute the Urubamba to the south side of the valley, drain swamps and build terraces, irrigation canals, roads and bridges, and brought in 2,000 outsiders under the mitma system to settle and work the land.

The estate grew maize, potatoes and chillies, and crops brought from elsewhere in the empire such as coca, peanuts, cotton and sweet potatoes. Huayna Capac granted parts of it to his mother, other relatives, his wives, religious institutions and a group of aclla, the women set apart in Inca society. At its centre stood his palace of Quispiguanca, in the northern part of the present town.

The modern town grew on the valley floor below the snow peaks of Chicón and Pumahuanca, and by the early 21st century the site of Huayna Capac's palace held a cemetery and fields of carrots and coriander. Urubamba became the capital of its province and the largest town in the Sacred Valley, and the arrival of tourism turned it into a crossroads for travellers heading to the valley's ruins and to Machu Picchu.

Urubamba is a market town first and a tourist town second. Its culture is that of the Quechua valley communities around it, mixed with the Spanish-speaking life of a provincial capital. Offerings to Pachamama and the apus, the mountain spirits, remain part of farming life in the villages, and weaving traditions continue in the highland communities nearby, among them Chinchero above the valley.

The great event of the year is the festival of El Señor de Torrechayoc. In the first week of June the town fills with dancers and visitors from the surrounding towns, who perform in the streets and celebrate well into the early hours, and the dancing culminates in group performances on the town's football pitch, which also hosts local matches through the year. Football is the everyday passion here as everywhere in Peru.

Visitors and volunteers have long passed through, so the main market caters to them in part, while the small shops in town sell locally made alpaca garments and ornaments, and a separate produce market runs on certain days of the week.

About 14,000 people lived in the town of Urubamba at the 2017 census. It sits at about 2,700 metres, roughly 67 km from Cusco by the road through Chinchero, and is the capital of both the district and the province of Urubamba.

The town lives from farming, trade and the services of a provincial capital, and increasingly from tourism. Its position makes it a transport hub, with a bus depot and plenty of taxis, and travellers change here for destinations up and down the valley. Many of the Sacred Valley's country hotels are on its outskirts, and the town is often recommended as a place to acclimatise before going up to Cusco.

Daily life centres on the main market, which sells fresh fruit and vegetables, pots, pans and other essentials, and on the smaller produce market held on certain days, which sometimes sells things the main market does not. Restaurants in the centre serve set lunches to local workers rather than visitors. The protests and blockades since late 2022, and the long-delayed new airport at Chinchero nearby, are the issues that most affect the valley's future.

Urubamba eats like a working town. Restaurants around the centre are mostly menú places, serving a set meal of a soup to start and then a main course such as arroz con pollo, chicken with rice, or lomo saltado, stir-fried beef with onions, tomatoes and chips — a dish from Peru's Chinese-Peruvian chifa kitchen. The market is the place to try Andean produce, above all the valley's maize and potatoes.

The cooking of the Cusco highlands is everywhere. Cuy al horno, guinea pig roasted whole, is the celebration dish, and soups built on chuño, freeze-dried potato, are everyday food. Maize, the crop that drew the Inca to this valley, still runs through the local diet.

Chicha de jora, the maize beer of the Andes, is traditionally made and sold in chicherías, and frutillada is its strawberry version. Coca tea is offered for the altitude. The valley's country hotels have their own restaurants serving Andean and international cooking.