Ollantaytambo Day 1

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We slept in for the first time yet on this trip, which felt wonderful and was much needed. After a leisurely breakfast we caught a shared taxi to Ollantaytambo, our final stop for this trip. Ollantaytambo is about an 1 ½ hr. drive from Cusco in the Sacred Valley, lies at 9186 ft. and has a population of about 2,000. It is designated as a UNESCO world heritage site, and is considered a “living Incan city” and the finest example of such. There are numerous Incan ruins within short walking distance of the city, and you can see about four distinct sites on the mountainsides while sitting in a café in the center of town. Tourism is present here, but the town has maintained it’s dignity and cultural identity. It has been continuously inhabited since the 13^th century, and many of the homes are built within the foundations of Incan ruins. The aqueduct work here is an ancient engineering marvel that the local population has not improved upon because it simply can’t be improved. There are channels of fresh water running down the streets which are fed by underground aquifers that the Incans had tapped.

We got a room at the Chaska Wasi Hotel ($20), which was right on the main square, and had a sweet cat that took up residence in our room for a while. We spent the afternoon hiking the Pinkuylluna ruins above town, which we had completely to ourselves except for a little local boy collecting herbs and grasses. The ruins are the agricultural store houses for the larger Ollantaytambo fortress on the opposite side of town. They are left entirely natural, and free to whomever wants to huff it up the steep trail. The more time we spent in the Sacred Valley we realized that there are hundreds of Incan sites to explore, and wished we had more time to do so.

We found a mostly vegetarian restaurant (no guinea pigs on the menu!) called Sacred Hearts. It was established by a British woman in her late 70’s that dropped everything, moved sight unseen to Peru, and started a non-profit organization geared towards the education of the local people through healthy well balanced meals. All profits from the restaurant go towards her programs which have expanded to domestic violence education, sex education, disability assistance and the daily feeding of school children and elderly in the high Andes. Apparently there are several towns high above Ollantayambo at almost 20,000 ft. where the only crop that will grow is the potato. Malnutrition and physical disabilities are common amongst the children due to the lack of varied diets. The restaurant also sells some fair trade woven items made by the woman of a young boy that suffers a disabling neurological disorder. All proceeds go towards the cost of his visiting rehabilitation nurse.

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