Hanging Out and Hiking in Ollanta

Sunday, October 09, 2016
Ollantaytambo, Sacred Valley, Peru
We have spent the last couple of days wandering and taking it easy, in about equal portions, around Ollantaytambo. Yesterday, Saturday, we strolled around town a bit (but not enough--more on that in a minute). We decided to go for a hike to Pinkuylluna, the local Incan grainery. It is supposed to be a fifteen minute walk to get there and then a 1&1/2 hour hike, but we didn't really know what we were looking for. NEVER TRUST GOOGLE MAPS! Now I knew this--although I trust them in cities alright, much more than GPS--but this seemed like a pretty simple 15 minute walk--out our door, cross the river, along the road by the river and then back across the river. Well, after about 45 minutes, walking along the "road" by the river (really more of a trail but you could drive a car along it if you had to, and very much like a lot of the "calles" in Ollanta, but without the cobblestones), and not being able to find any way back across the river, we decided that this was definitely not the right way. So we headed back. It was a nice walk along the river anyway and not a total waste, though. When we got back to our hotel, we got on line and did a bit of looking and found that the entrance to Pinkuylluna is actually right in the middle of town and that, rather than a hike it is more of a climb, up to a structure on the mountain opposite the main archaeological site of the fort, one that we had been wondering what it was. Sometimes we are so clueless, you'd think we didn't do any research at all! The next time we left the hotel we went a different route to the main square and sure enough, we passed right by the entrance. Anyway, the remainder of the day was quiet as we sat on our rooftop for sunset, looking across at Pinkuylluna trying to figure out what all the tour groups still up on the mountain opposite were looking at over there. Turns out a face appears on the mountain if the light is right at sunset (we didn't see it). Went for dinner at Uchucuta, one of the top rated restaurants in town. When we got there, it took a while for the server (who spoke no English) to communicate to us that it would be a 40 minute wait, as there were a couple of large groups already there. We decided that was fine, and we would just have some leisurely drinks and wait. But right after we came in, other couples started coming in and our poor waitress was getting clearly so flustered trying to explain the situation to them and deal with how busy she already was, that she decided to enlist us to tell them, in English, about the wait. Once we did, they were all fine with it and were happy to wait. The food was very good. Carol and I both had pasta (we weren't tempted by the guinea pig, which is a specialty there), but mine had little local flavour, as it was an olive and alpaca ravioli.
Today, we decided to explore the main Ollantaytambo Incan ruin site, which contains a fort which was the site of a major battle between the Incas and the Spanish, one of the few that the Incas won (at least the first time). It was interesting and provided some different great views of the valley. We got up there (and it is a good climb) early, before all the tour buses started rolling in and were glad to get some pics without the hordes of people. The skill and technology to build these places is amazing and I am particularly impressed by their use of aqueducts for everything from irrigation to sanitation. Some of those same technologies are still in use in the town and how "running" water is delivered to many of the houses. It only took us about an hour and a half to see the site, so we decided to go up the other side of the valley to Pinkuyllana, which had planned to do in the afternoon anyway. There is a small dig site off on a side trail on the way up, and we went over to that and that back onto the main trail up. As we went along, this was becoming more of a serious climbing trail, rather than a hiking trail and Carol and I were both getting a bit nervous for different reasons. Carol has a problem with going down uneven steep trails and I have a problem with heights when there is nothing to hold onto. So Carol decided to stop a little over half way up and I went up a couple of more "switchbacks", but the next section looked a bit too "exposed" for me, so I turned back too. But it was a great climb and the views were another spectacular angle. We stayed and chatted with another couple for a while, enjoying the view, and then came down, booked our taxi trip for tomorrow to Moray, the Salineras and Chinchero, and then found a restaurant to plunk ourselves at, have some great lentil and quinoa soups, have a few beverages and catch up on our blogs. By the way, I forgot to mention, Carol is also doing a blog at:
 http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/carolrichardson/6/tpod.html
 in case you want to hear any of the important stuff! 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

Jackie Cross
2016-10-29

Hello, Jackie from 'the other couple' here, amazing to have found your blog, loved all the Galapagos stuff and information, feeling quite inspired now, not that we have actually left Cusco yet, we go tomorrow after 5 weeks at Spanish school. Off to find Carol's blog now

2025-02-17

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