Let the Adventure Begin
We said goodbye to our main bags at the Pirwa Hostel in Cusco and headed off for a two day adventure tucked away in one small backpack. It was quite difficult trying to fit cold weather clothes, toiletries, and all my camera stuff in a 20L day pack but it happened! We loaded up on a colectivo (small van) and headed towards Ollantaytambo.
Chinchero Ruins
About an hour into the drive we stopped at the Chinchero ruins thanks to a suggestion made by Franćois. He told us of a couple of his favorite ruins in the Sacred Valley. Chinchero is "a typical Andean village combined with Inca ruins and a colonial church with beautiful mountian views and an awesome Sunday market."
First we walked through the Andean village and saw them setting up the Artesian market.
Next we found the church, Inglesia Colonial de Chinchero. This church is by far one of the more beautiful ones I've seen since the interior is decked out with floral and religious designs on all walls. The entire front wall near the alter is covered in relics. What makes this church really neat is that it's built on Inca foundations!
Speaking of Inca foundations, the entire area is the remnants of the royal estate of Inca Tupac Yupanqui. He was the 9th Incan king and ruled from 1438-1471. His reign represents a period of aggressive empire-building for the Incas; including Sacsaywamán (Cusco), Ollantaytambo fortress (Ollanta), and Machu Picchu.
Finally around the back we found the Ruinas Incas which consist of impressive terracing and not to mention killer mountian views.
Ollantaytambo, the Village
Many people pass right through this tiny town of 700 but I'm glad we chose to spend a whole day here. The quaint village is divided by the river Río Urubamba. There are two massive Inca ruins on the west side of town and the east side of town is the best surviving example of Inca city planning. The layout includes narrow cobblestone streets that have been continuously inhabited since the 13th century as well as a intricate network of aqueducts.
Ollantaytambo, the Ruins
The giant steep terraces visible from the town center marks one of the few places where the Spanish Conquistadors lost a major battle.
The Spaniards were showered with arrows, spears, and boulders from atop the steep terraces which made them impossible to climb. In addition, the Incas used some brilliant military tactics and flooded the plain below the terraces through previously prepared channels. This trapped the horses in the soft mud and forced the Spanish conquistadors to make a hasty retreat.
Ollantaytambo was used as a military, religious, administrative and farming complex built on top of two mountains. We had a lot of fun climbing and exploring all the terraces and rooms. We chose not to hire a guide for the ruins so instead we just imagined what everything might be given what we had read.
Excursion to Moray Ruins
Earlier today we talked to a local tour company to hire another colectivo to drive us to the Moray ruins which are 6 km outside of Ollanta. The lady said to come back at 2pm and she'd have a driver for us. So when we returned at 2pm she had yet to call the driver and couldn't get a hold of him while we stood there. These ruins are too cool to pass up so we took matters into our own hands and headed to the main plaza to barter for a ride.
Lauren is our best Spanish speaker and she successfully got us a ride to and from Moray for 200 soles total (tour company lady was going to charge 250 soles)! The driver also offered to take us to the Salinas salt mines, which we hadn't heard of so we just went with it.
Salinas Salt Pans
Known as "one of the most spectacular sights in the whole Cusco area" we definitely lucked out going there by accident! Salinas has thousands of salt pans that have been used for salt extraction since Inca times.
They exist due to a small hot spring which discharges a small steam of heavily salt-laden water, which is diverted into salt pans and evaporated to produce salt used for cattle licks.
While we were visitng, we watched several people hard at work mining the salt. They had a pretty good system going on and we used their network of pathways to navigate through the salt pans.
I still have no idea how they carry those large sacks of salt up the steep narrow edges!
Moray Concentric Ruins
Moray is the other ruins that Franćois suggested we go and see. It is a deep amphitheater type terracing that is shaped into different levels of concentric circles. Each layer has it's own microclimate according to depth. The most realistic theory (read: not aliens) is that the Incas used the terraces as some kind of labratory to determine optimal conditions for growing crops of different species.
There are three bowls. The first one we saw was the best maintained and I think the largest. It was cut very deep into the mountain and so getting to and from it was some effort. The steps we used to scale the terraces were really fun to hop down but not so fun to climb back up...
We wandered over to the second bowl and found a slightly smaller and definitely less maintained terrace system. There were large piles of rocks everywhere too which I'm not sure what that's all about. Casey and I climbed down into the center and took some pictures to show the massiveness of the terraces.
The last bowl was a little removed from the first two. It was much smaller and almost like an after-thought; however it had by far the best view!!
Lost in Translation
We loaded up the van at 5pm with plenty of time to catch our 7pm train to Machu Picchu. The drive back to Ollanta takes about 30 minutes so we were really confused when we still hadn't gotten there at 5:40pm... Lauren said something to the driver who looked at her with wide eyes and said "Ollanta? I thought you said Cusco!" Yup we had just driven 40 minutes in the OPPOSITE direction!!! The train ticket said boarding time was 6:30pm so instead of having about an hour to spare, we know would just make it to the plaza in time if there were no problems on the road. The guy drove like a madman to get us back and was cursing under his breath the whole time. Turns out he lives in Cusco and so he thought it was an easy 200 soles to drive home. Lolz no...
Peru Rail
About half of the people in the car were freaking out that we wouldn't make it and the other half were a bit more optimistic. I was the latter for once in my life. I figured if I could talk my way onto an international flight after the doors had closed (read: El Salvador 2012) then I could get myself on that train.
Essentially we had to make this train since it was the last one tonight and there is no road access to Agua Calientes / Machu Picchu. I actually love the fact that you can only access this wonderful piece of history by hiking the Inca Trail or taking the train. Fortunately it was not a problem, we arrived at the platform at 6:45pm and loaded up on the 2-hr train that left promptly at 7pm. Machu Picchu here I come!!!
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