Ollantaytambo

We're back up in the Andean Mountains which means it's time to buy an Alpacca jumper! It seems to be the thing to do here although they are a lot of other temptations... poncho, gloves, hats, socks, cuddling lamas, the markets are full of colourful crafts that all look good. We start our trip in the heart of the Sacred Valley, in the town of Ollantaytambo, also called Ollanta. Like many of the towns here, Ollanta was built during the pre Hispanic time.

Nowadays, Ollantaytambo is mainly a gateway town to Machu Picchu as its the origin for the train and also close to where the Inca trail starts, which are the only two ways to get further down the valley. Despite being just mandatory stop for most tourists we found the town to be really cute and charming. The historical center is full of cobbled streets with old little houses. In the streets we can still see what we think are the original water system that sometimes pops underground and then comes up somewhere else. They have their own Inca Ruins here, the compound was a royal retreat for the Inca Kings and served as the last strong hold of the Inca army against the Spanish conquistadors. The fact that the Spanish didn't settled here makes this town one of a few remaining living Inca towns. In the ruins we could see that it was a decent sized town and had the remains of a few temples, the Fort, leveled agricultural land as well as some mountain storage built high up on the shaded side of the hill

From high up in the ruins there is also a wonderful view down the valley and of the glacier way up in the mountains, just seeing the snow and ice was making us feel cold although the sun is shining and it's hot! This is our first visit to Inca ruins and it seems that climbing up steps in altitude is part of the fun! This is excellent training before taking the train tomorrow and seeing Machu Picchu.Read more