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Published: November 1st 2008
Visiting local communities in the sacred valley
We visited a local community on the way to Ollantaytambo to see how they make the wool and weave the materials. They use traditional methods to dye the wool, using local plants and rocks. We spent a bit of time browsing their markets and bought a few things knowing the money goes straight to them.
Ollantaytambo
The journey from Cusco to Ollantaytambo is through the sacred valley. There are so many sites to see along this route. We stopped off in Pisac and saw the old inca ruins. These ruins were were the common people lived and worked. Back in the days Cusco was for the upper class and royalty and other areas for the commoners.
Our guide explained about the spanish invasion and how many of the inca towns were trashed and destroyed. It´s such a shame!
Ollantaytambo has an impressive sun temple which is set up high on the mountain. The rocks used to make the temples were transported from a natural landslide approximately 20kms away. No-one knows how they did it as there were no donkeys back in those days. It´s estimated it would have taken thousands
of men to transport some of the larger rocks. It´s insane when your looking around thinking about it!
Machu Picchu
I was so so so soooooo excited about going to Macchu Pichu. After the trek we re-grouped in Ollantaytambo and caught the train to the town of Agua Calientes, 10 minutes by bus to Machu Picchu. Dave and Bow were walking the Inca trail and we were planning to meet up with them there when they arrived in the morning.
Agua Calientes had no electricity when we arrived. It was kind of a blessing in disguise as it turned a tourist trap town into a romantic candle lit city with lots of excited kids running around playing and screaming in the dark. Turns out this town had no electricity for 5 days.... not good when when you´ve got a bunch of tourists to cook and cater for. No ATMS, no charging batteries for cameras for MP. Lots of people got caught out. Lucky no one in our group got sick from the food.
We were hoping for a clear morning for the visit to Macchu Pichu. It was the start of the rainy season and it was
usually pretty cloudy and foggy in the mornings. I was up at 5am, ready to join the hoards of people trying to get on the first buses going up the mountain.
As we climbed the windey road through the clouds I was thinking that it´s been a good 7 or so years that I´ve wanted to come here. Finally, I was here! Yay!!!!
The views when you first walk in are amazing. It is so massive, pictures really do not do it justice. I really enjoyed the tour and had a good wander around until lunchtime. We meet up with the others who had finished their trek. They were so stoked. They were the first 3 in through the sun gate, and had the whole place to themselves for an hour or something. Awesome!
I´d been recommended to climb up wanapichu mountain to get a good view. Unfortunately it was so wet and cloudy it wasn´t worth it. I met some Isralie guys on the bus on the way home and they´d done it and had to wait 2 hours for it to clear properly so they could get a veiw. I was really glad I didn´t
bother!
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