The Pisac Market into In Sacred Valley Tour
As it was indicated before, the present-day town of P'isaq was formed after 1572 when the "Indians Reductions" were established, by which the Quechua people were forced to live in villages. The small town was made in the Andean way, with narrow and cobbled streets; but a "Plaza de Armas" and a Catholic Church were established in the classical Spanish way
According to tradition, when Francisco Pizarro (the conqueror of the Inkas) visited this area, he had hitched his horse to one of those trees; therefore, they must be about 5 centuries old. Also in the Plaza there is a monument sculpted in stone honoring the Quechua Chief Bernardo Tambohuacso Pumayalli, who in 1780 along with some other chiefs and "mestizo" people headed a pro-independence movement against the Spanish crown. That movement failed and subsequently all the leaders were executed in Qosqo's Main Plaza. The church that is found today is relatively modern; it was made with adobes the same way as the colonial one that was demolished almost completely.
It is in the town's Main Plaza where every Sunday is the famous "Indian Market" that attracts hundreds of peasants from the surrounding communities who descend from the mountains in order to perform their commercial transactions. Normally, those peasants bring to the market what they grow, goods that are sold or simply bartered for some other manufactures or goods extraneous to their mountains, such as candles, matches, clothing, salt, coca leaves, tropical fruits, etc
The colorful typical clothing of peasants visiting the market is very showy; those are the clothes of their normal use and not an occasional costume. The native hats are also easy to distinguish; they are almost always black and flat and indicate that their wearers have almost no influence of western culture and speak just Quechua. Besides, there are many women who wear the "European like" high hats of different colors; they are westernized and possibly went to school, so they are bilingual or have some knowledge of the Spanish language.
In Qosqo City and most Andean towns like P'isaq, there are frequently in some doorways sticks placed with mainly red plastic bags or multicolored flowers on their tips; they indicate that in those spots "aqha" or "chicha" is for sale, that is, the mild maize beer which has a low alcoholic content but is somewhat heavy for western stomachs. That beverage constitutes part of the daily diet of Andean people since immemorial times; it is popular among women who have babies because when drinking it they will get a lot of milk, and also among men because it is believed that drinking it prevents prostatitis. In many places there are some other similar sticks holding small baskets on their ends; they indicate that those are bakeries or bread is for sale within. If some other time you find sticks with some banana leaves on the tip, then that means that inside that house coca leaves are for sale. That is an old signal system; some decades ago it was much more popular because most of our population were illiterate but today it is being extinguished slowly as a consequence of education that people are getting and the influence of radio and television. This same influence is leading to abandon certain "archaic and repressive" habits and traditions deep-rooted during many centuries, such as prearranged weddings and practice of " Sirvinakuy", the trial-marriage inherited from our ancestral culture. According to Alfonsina Barrionuevo in Inkan times that trial marriage must have been called "Warmichakuy" or perhaps "Tinkunakuspa". It consisted in an endogamic temporary joining of a man and a woman; major youngsters of the same social status in order to know each other even in the most intimate and minimum aspects for a lapse of about one year.
