Blogs from Ollantaytambo, Cusco, Peru, South America - page 6

Ollantaytambo’s cobblestone streets eventually devolve into gravel, an invisible fence for tourists. A gravel road parallels the stream that runs into the Urubamba River. It further deteriorates at an ordinary church painted in mustard yellow. To the left are the far extensions of the ruins, then wilderness interrupted by verdant crops. A young chap in a Yankees cap walks by me with his hands in his pockets. “Señor,” I startle him. “Buenos días. What is there on this road?” “Oh, no one ever goes up there,” referring to the other Ollantaytambo into which he feels I belong. “Gracias.” That’s all I need. It is the path less taken. According to Frost, that has made all the difference. Having downed noodle soup for breakfast and with a bottle of water in my pack, I hug the right ... read more

Thursday 1.7.2010 day 260 Train back to Ollantaytambo and then min bus to Cuzco We had a 9am train and the ticket said that we had to be at the station at 8:20am. So we got up early and had bfast and then walked to the station and waited for the train. First the Inca rail train came and it is the very expensive one. It only had a few ppl on it and it called last call about 16 times there must have been a missing person as it also left 15 mim late after some one walk on late. Our train came was had a few spare seat so we got a window seat together and saw the fantastic views all the way. To our surprise the train went all the way to Ollantaytambo ... read more

We woke up at 7am and again enjoyed the bread and jelly offered free at our hotel. We were then picked up just after 8am by our tour guide. We had arranged a tour to Pisac ruins, then to Ollantaytambo ruins. The tour then continued to Chinchero, but we chose to stay in Ollanta since this is where we have reservations tonight and where we have to catch the train tomorrow to Aguas Calientes. For only S32 (about $10), we thought it was still worth it, as this included our transportation to where we wanted to end up, plus 2 tours of ruins, plus a guide. We did have to pay the S130 (about $46) for our "boleto touristico" but we would have needed this anyways to enter most of the sites around Cuzco. There are ... read more

Pisaq and ollantaytambo 7th February 2010 Early this morning we tok a taxi to the top of the ruins above Pisaq in the sacred valley about a half hour drive from Cusco. We had started at first light, getting up showering but a delayed breakfast meant it was almost 8 when we arrived at the ruins, we were determined to avoid crowds and we knew this particular site is very popular even more so because Machu Pichu is closed. The first area of the site is dwelling places of the Hauri people (Pronounced Wari) from roughly 1200 years ago, once again the precision of the stones is amazing considering the time in which it was erected and the fact that its on a cliff, clever lads these Hauris, From the same area you can see the ... read more

Our train from Agua Calientes stopped in the town of Ollantaytambo, which is known for another historic Inca ruin. We arranged to stay in Ollantaytambo overnight, and check the ruins the next day. We found a beautiful hotel to recoup from our Inka hike. Eva still had her blister, and both of us had stiff backs and legs. By the next day, Dec. 5 we had recovered a lot and spent several hours exploring the Ollantaytambo ruins at our leisure. As we have mentioned in earlier blogs, the Inkas did much of there farming on terraces they built on the mountain sides. But the terraces also have defensive purposes. At Ollantaytambo the terraces are about 8 feet high, with narrow, steep staircases running in between. Ollantaytambo was in fact, the site of a successful Inca rebellion. ... read more