Blogs from Ollantaytambo, Cusco, Peru, South America - page 8

We did a day tour out to Ollantaytambo with our very ordinary guide who explained nothing. The day started OK with a trip to Pisac Markets. At the bakery I had a traditional bread stuffed with banana which was great. I bought a pack of cards at the market which I knew would come in handy and a photo album. From there we went to an animal farm to pat and feed the different types of llama, camels and alpacas from the region. Luckily none of them spat at me, but something about them scares me. We then continue on to the very impressive ruins of Ollantaytambo, with its huge terraces which were exhausting to climb up to the incomplete temple of the sun. Despite being incomplete, the sheer size of the place is amazing. The ... read more

I had twice tried to buy train tickets to Aguas Calientes, the town closest to Machu Picchu, from the main PeruRail ticket office in Cusco - once mid-morning and once at 7:30AM - and both times had been met with an untidy queue of tourists snaking out of the door. Inside was a further sea of would-be ticket purchasers, numbers indicative of a multi-hour wait to actually get to a ticket clerk. Life's too short for this sort of time-wasting, so we decided to head further up the line to Ollantaytambo to try our luck there. A cramped bus journey and local-subsidising taxi ride later, we were in the village and immediately beetled along to the train station. There is only a handful of trains each day between Cusco and Aguas Calientes, but plenty from Ollantaytambo, ... read more

Ollantaytambo est construite sur des restes d´un village inca. Les rues sont toujours basees sur les plans inca d´il y a plusieurs siecles et le systeme hydraulique de la ville est d´origine et fonctionne encore. Ils sont doues ces Incas quand meme! Pres d´Ollantaytambo, on a visite les ruines d´une cite Inca et les incroyables terrasses a plusieurs centaines de metres d´altitude. On a aussi visite une fabrique locale artisanale de tissu et de differents produits issus de la laine de llama et d´alpaca. Ollantaytambo is a town that is based on the Inca system of a few centuries ago. The streets and the town layout are the same that they were when the Incas built them. The water system also works perfectly. Very impressive. Near Ollantaytambo, we also visited ruins of Inca sites and their ... read more

I shall try and tell you all of the wonders of the Peruvian landscapes and our trek through the mountains to get to the sacred city of Macchu Picchu, but i will not be able to do it justice. In any event, here goes; After arriving in Cusco and realising that my lungs were complaining of having 10% less oxygen getting to them than normal, we had our city tour (which was described by Em in the last blog) and passed out, waking up just in time for the tour of the sacred valley of the Inca´s tour the next day (i would not recommend 2 day travel and airport sleeping to anyone). We began by leaving Cusco and going down rather steep mountain roads to the small town of Pisac, were we were duly obliged ... read more

Today was another early day. We boarded a train @ 6am for Ollantaytambo leaving behind Aqua Calientes and Macchu Picchu. BOOHOO! We arrived to our station after only 2 hrs and met our guide for the day. It was still very very early. As a matter of fact, we arrived to the Ollantaytambo city we had the whole historic site to ourselves.... at least for most of the morning. This was another place where wonder and amazement sets in and no words can truly express your thoughts. All I can say is AWESOME!! I mean we were truly awestruck again. Initially, it took us a minute to gather ourselves then up we went- 1st to the area where the people lived, then to the temples, and finally to the agricultural areas. It appeared so detailed and ... read more