Ollantaytambo, Peru

Saturday, October 05, 2019

Ollantaytambo, Cusco, Peru

We’ve been off the grid for a bit. After spending a few days bumming around churches and markets in Cusco, we arranged our day packs and headed for the hills!

We met with our Machu Picchu hiking group the night before our mountain journey began. Our team leader informed us that a Porter would carry 6kg of our personal gear and this would include 3.5 kg of assigned sleeping bag and ground sheet. With a clean shirt, pants and two pairs of drawers, we weighed in at 6kg. Anything else, we would carry in our day pack!

Power bars, nuts and dried fruit, toilet paper, hand sanitizer, puffer jacket and rain gear, we threw our bags onboard a small 14 seater bus and made our way to Ollantaytambo, where we would spend the night before our 4-day Inca Trail hike to Machu Picchu began.

En route to Ollantaytambo we had the opportunity to visit two artisan communities supported by GAdventures. One was a textile community where women demonstrated traditional methods of fabric weaving, alpaca wool spinning and wool dying.

We learned that wool dying was accomplished through the washing of wool, using a root that when mixed with hot water, acted as a soap. Various plants and insects were used to achieve different colours to dye the wool. Accidentally the women found that female urine, when mixed with traditional dyes provided a broader, more intense colour palate. Who knew!

In another community, we learned of traditional methods of making bricks, using clay, grass, water and some good old fashioned foot work! Some 2000 bricks are used to make a standard house and only 1 month and about 1000 Canadian will cover the basic costs involved in the build!

Finally in Ollantaytambo, we hiked the surrounding hills to enjoy the breathtaking view of the surrounding Sacred Valley. We visited ancient Incan Storehouses; essentially a Peruvian version of our own root cellars where the hillside winds keeps root veg cool, preserving them throughout the seasons.

We wandered the streets and visited dwellings that were typical of ancient times, with guinea pigs running throughout the house (enough kept for a few meals and special occasions). Even today, people keep enough guinea pig on hand for a wedding or special occasion. Every house has at least 20 or more; a fact that was met with varying degrees of approval from our group. With that said, the carnivore contingent thought it very practical indeed!

It was an early evening as our trek started tomorrow with a 7 am rise; the latest wake up we were promised over the next few days! We were hoping to get as much sleep as possible to help with the journey ahead! In our freezing cold room, at 9200 ft, lights were out at 9 pm. Inca Trail, here we come!