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 The town rivals the ruins as a point of interest. I like this picture, it gives you an idea of the town - stonework and pavement from the time of the Incas, small streets and alleys, little shops surrounding a small plaza. All with a backdrop of the mountains. As you can see, it was twilight before we got out of the ruins and into town. Since this was our last stopover before beginning to hike, we used the opportunity to buy a few last minute items (like toilet paper, trail mix, batteries, etc.). A couple of the little shops there seemed to be fully stocked with this kind of stuff so I suspect this is a good source of commerce for the community. |
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Between the shopping for supplies and meeting for dinner, we were able to take a
little bit of a look around the town. Here is an even smaller alleyway on our way through
some of the back streets of Ollantaytambo. Notice the drainage, put in place centuries
earlier and still functioning... Mauro (leaning over in the middle here) knew his way
around so he took us back to meet some of the people who live here. The description here is taken from my journal: "(After shopping) we walked through some narrow streets (all of which have the original Inca stonework) and on to somebody’s house that Mauro knew. It was a one room structure, original Inca construction, stone walls with little alcoves set in them. In the alcoves were human skulls and herbs, that according to Mauro were meant to protect the place when no one was there... Spirits of the ancestors keeping watch or something like that. Since there were no locking doors they needed something I guess and it would certainly work on me! |
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In one corner was a cooking fire and along the opposite wall was a sleeping space that
looked like beds with ropes attached to the frame to keep the sleeping mats off the
ground. In the middle of the room was a work space with a table full of stuff to be sold
and a sewing machine where a guy was busy making hand made dolls. Also on the floor was a
herd of guinea pigs, busily munching away on corn stalks. I took a couple of photos (after
asking permission) and bought a couple of small things just to be polite (woven coca leaf
bags)." Click Here for a closer view of the skulls in the alcove... |
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| I'm not sure what the little dolls, containers and shells represent...
Later I wished I would have taken more photos but I didn’t want to be too much of an
ugly tourist. By the time we walked back to the hotel, it was pitch dark and we did our best to make an early dinner and night of it so that we would be ready to get started at crack o' dawn. The morning of the start of our trek - This was the view at 6:00AM toward the mountains from Las Orquideas, where we spent the night in Ollantaytambo. And we're off... |
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- The Trek to Machu Picchu
The Sacred Valley