Winding our way in a taxi down through the hills from Cuzco, fresh off the plane from Lima, Paz y Luz was our first night in the Sacred Valley. It was our first trip to Peru and we had decided to do it on our own, just the two of us. We had heard good things about the inn. We were met by a friendly Dutch woman, Hettie, who lit up when my wife started speaking Dutch. We really hit it off with her and had lots of interesting conversations over tea and food in the light and airy dining room. Our room was great with a window out to a cornfield on one side and another looking out into the spacious courtyard and up into the mountains.
One of the nice things about the inn is its location, a pleasant walk to and from town. It was always nice to walk out of town on a quiet dirt road along the river back to our place. The center is quite large with many rooms in several well designed buildings. The whole layout feels well-planned to accommodate large groups. We stayed four nights and shared the whole place with just a few other people, which was nice. Peaceful it was. We enjoyed the simple tasty food prepared by a local Peruvian woman. We had a nice conversation with her, and as we were leaving she gave us a gift of a book about local plants and their healing qualities. I had told her I was a gardener.
Paz y Luz was just the right place to begin our explorations of the Sacred Valley. Our last day we took a taxi up to the ruins and walked back to town. Far below we could clearly see our "home". We'll be back!
