Ollantaytambo--We Hit the Sacred Valley

The first Monday of Mom's visit, we headed into the Sacred Valley. The plan was to hit the site at Ollantaytambo, then take the train into the jungle to Aguas Calientes, the small town near Machu Picchu. I was still feeling pretty tired, but a lunch and a d. coke rejuvenated me.

I think no matter how many ruins I see, I am always blown away when I set foot in a new site. Ollantaytambo was spectacular. First of all, it clings to the side of a hill and some cliffs, and underneath these imposing structures, a small, more modern town has grown. There are also some smaller additional sites on the other hills surrounding the village. What remains of the site is Inca terracing, some incredible Inca walls, and structural remains. We chose to wander the site at random and skip the informative tour, so I have no idea what the structures or the site were used for. However, it was awesome to wander leisurely at our own pace through the site. Also, there were about a million stairs to climb, so in that sense too, it was nice to take our time. Really, I don't have much else to say about Ollantaytambo; the pictures speak for themselves.

Approaching Ollantaytambo on our walk through the town.
The ruins.
A view of the town of Ollantaytambo and the Sacred Valley from atop the ruins.
More ruins and terracing.



Mom getting her Inca on.
Structural remains.
Inca doorway!
More sexy Inca stonework.
Ollantaytambo was so cool that for a brief moment I worried that I would like it better than Machu Picchu. As Mom and I discovered the next morning, however, that was not possible. The train to Aguas Calientes was spectacular, as well. In about two hours, we slowly chugged deeper into the Sacred Valley along a brown river with some wild rapids. The trip was marked by huge rock cliffs and peaks smoothed by rain and the creeping jungle. The closer we got to Aguas Calientes, the more verdant and dense the foliage became. It really was a jungle, which I couldn't believe after seeing the surrounding areas of Cusco and Ollantaytambo. But there it was, wet and dense and vine-ridden. We disembarked in the town and, in typical South American fashion, waited an hour for a promised train station pick-up that never arrived. After some minor setbacks, including the fact that no one I asked had heard of the hostel we were supposed to stay at, I went to an internet cafe and called them, and soon we were escorted up yet another hill to our digs. We enjoyed another fine trout dinner (I think the thing I miss the most about Peru, aside from the men, is the delicious trout that I ate almost every day there!), and then it was off to bed so we could get up bright and early (4:30 a.m.) to be on one of the first buses up the mountain to Machu Picchu!