Climate: Cusco features two well-defined seasons: the rainy season, from November to March, with average temperatures of 12 °C; and a dry season (the recommended time of year for visiting) from April to October, with cold nights, sunny days and average temperatures of 9 °C.
Access: Písac lies 33 km from Cusco (about an hour away).
Today Pisac constitutes one of the most important Archaeological Parks in the Cusco department. Possibly its name comes from a type of partridge very common in the area known as "p'isaqa". Some scholars suggest that the pre-Hispanic City had the shape of a "p'isaqa" (-ornate tinamou- Nothoprocta ornata); a tinamidae that represented the local fauna. Today, there is also a colonial town named Pisac in the lower part of the valley, established as consequence of the famous "Indians Reductions" by which the Quechuas were joined in small towns.
This archaeological site, considered one of the most important in Cusco, lies near the town of Písac, of colonial origin, and which hosts a Sunday fair that draws thousands of visitors and villagers from remote highland villages, clad in colorful traditional dress. Holidays feature the procession of the varayocs or town mayors, who at around 9:30 am head to church to attend the traditional Mass held in Quechua, the Inca language.
There are two possibilities in order to get to the Pisac archaeological site from Pisac Town: Hike, taking the street on the western side of the present-day church and go up through the terracing and the mountain, it is a hard hike because of the mountain's altitude and inclination that requires one to be in good physical condition. Otherwise, take a car that must follow the 8 Km. (5 mile) road toward the northeast of the town as far as the parking lot from which it will be necessary to follow the 1.5 Km. (1 mile) path in order to get the "Intiwatana" sector. Nowadays, the second possibility is the easiest and most popular; the most interesting variant is to get by car to the "Qanchisraqay" sector in order to start the hike, for which it is commendable not to suffer from vertigo as the mountain is somewhat steep.
It is in Pisac's Main Plaza where every Sunday is the famous "Pisac 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 Pisac 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.
