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Published: August 27th 2012
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The first part of our journey to Aguas Calientes, which means hot water, was aboard a bus which stopped at historic sites through the "Sacred Valley". After our 8 am pick up, we made our first stop at a very ordinary market to stock up on coca products and drinks. It was best described as a useful toilet stop. Then it was on to Complejo Arqueologico Pisaq which is an historic hill top settlement. The road went through a series of switchbacks and as we rose high above the valley we could see impressive Inca terraces and the remains of a village.
After exploring the Pisaq site, we decended to the Pisaq market where we viewed a silver jewellery manufacturing operation before travelling to our lunch stop.
Everyone on the bus had paid different prices for their bus tickets so this meant different lunch options and some tickets did not have lunch included. The bus dropped each small group at different restaurants in Urumbamba over a two or three kilometre stretch of road.
The challenge for the guide was to have everyone back on the bus one hour after their drop off time – it proved to be
an impossible mission! Fortunately we had one of the better “turistica” lunches. We sat under the veranda to eat while we (and everyone else in the place) were serenaded by a couple of locals with pan pipes, guitar and some backing tapes.
It was then on to Complejo Arqueologico de Ollantaytambo. When we booked the tour in Lima, our travel agent told us the tour would finish at 3:30 pm and we would have to wait until 7:00pm (after dark) to catch the train. We decided it would make better sense to catch the 4:30 pm train and risk a quick dash to the train station. BIG mistake!! As a result of everyone ‘dragging their heels’ over lunch, we arrived about 3:50 pm at the outskirts of Ollantaytambo. This was where we joined the outer edge of a massive traffic jam. After 10 minutes passed the driver and tour guide had various animated discussions. Eventually we were all invited to walk the last kilometre or so through the cobbled town, past the enormous vehicles attempting to pass one another, and onto the historic site.
Eileen and I were the only ones not returning to Cuzco on the bus
that evening so we took our belongings with us when we got off the bus. It was now 4:10 pm which left us only a few minutes to view this enormous site. A quick look by me and a worried look by Eileen and we were off running to the train station at 4:25 pm. In some ways it was a blessing because it saved us a huge walk up a series of steep steps to look down on the Inca terraces that we were looking up at. More importantly it meant that the first part of the train ride was in daylight so we could enjoy the view.
The train mostly followed the river and wound between some massive hills/mountains with beautiful scenery. There was a scattering of houses, settlements and farmed areas along the way. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride and was glad we did it in the daylight.
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