Ollantaytambo

Ollantaytambo, pronounced oll-hyan-tay-tam-bo. Say it three times, fast! This picturesque little village was a pleasant surprise on this trip. We stayed for two nights, and I would gladly have stayed longer.

The stated purpose of our stay in Ollantaytambo was to acclimatize to the altitude. Here are the elevations of the places we went:

• Coastal:
• Lima     505 ft / 154 m
  
  Andes Mountain Region:
   
• Aguas Calientes 6,693 ft / 2,040 m
   
• Machu Picchu    7,972 ft / 2,430 m
   
• Ollantaytambo    9,160 ft / 2,792 m
   
• Cusco    11,152 ft / 3,399 m
   
• Moray 11,500 ft / 3,500 m
  
  Jungle/Amazon:
• Puerto Maldonado    610 ft / 186 m

So we went from basically sea level to 9,000 ft in one day. In theory, that should have made it easier for us to handle Machu Picchu which is at a slightly lower elevation, but it really didn't make a big difference, even with the help of coca leaves, coca candy, and coca tea. (Yes, that kind of coca.)

But back to Ollantaytambo. It is a small village, despite its increasing tourist trade, and retains a good number of Inca features, such as wall-bases made of huge, fitted boulders, and irrigation/drainage troughs along each cobblestone road.

Side street in Ollantaytambo

Just look at the boulders used in those walls. They have been honed to fit tightly together and are virtually earthquake-proof – as the earth trembles, the rocks grind against each other making the fit ever more perfect. (Now there's a life metaphor, perhaps for the rough times in a relationship?)

Because of the gutter at the side of the cobblestone road, there are stone "bridges" the allow access to the homes.

What you can't see is the sound of all this running water. It's surprisingly loud because there is little or no sound-dampening surface (such as grass or trees) in these laneways.

Another architectural feature of the Inca structures is the unique — and structurally strong — doorway.

An Incan door

This particular door has an inner frame, indicating that this dwelling belonged to someone very important.

Look again at the boulders. Each of those fitted stones was shaped without iron. Before Europeans arrived, the Incas did not have iron. (Though they did have lots of gold, silver, and copper.) To shape these stones, they used hard, sharp stones such as hematite.

I was curious about the many doorways that had what looked like flagpoles with orange or red bags tied to them.

Red "banner" in Ollantaytambo.

We saw these in Cusco, when we were fortunate to have a guide with us, and learned that this is the symbol for "beer sold here." No guarantee about what kind of beer. I expect this is not meant for turistas.

Modern structures often use mud bricks.

Pretty sure these bricks aren't as strong as Inca stones.

We saw many cats and dogs around town.

As far as I could tell, none of the animals were spayed or neutered. They were friendly, but did get into the garbage and strewed it liberally and seemed to have a great fondness for used sanitary pads. They also treated the entire town as their personal toilet. They rarely fought each other and seldom  approached people.

But, contrary to what we first thought, they were not strays; these are family pets. Animals are generally left to run free in Peru.

I was surprised to find that any doorway could lead to a hostal (an inn, not a typical hostel) or a shop or restaurant or artisan's home. Or even a guinea pig farm.

Cuy (pronounced coo-ee) or guinea pigs are considered a delicacy in Peru.
In Christian paintings (post-conquistadors) Jesus is shown eating cuy at The Last Supper.

These guinea pigs were kept in a stone barn off the courtyard. The other end of the barn held a display of alpaca blankets.

A cat in one courtyard in Ollantaytambo.

This kitten was guarding the guinea pigs.

We had no scheduled activities during our stay in Ollantaytambo.

On our first day, we followed our innkeeper's suggestion and walked to Quellorakay, some little-known ruins near the river. It was a short walk, maybe 15 minutes, but we began to worry when our trail went from this ...

... to this ...

A local dog joined us for a walk. If he got too far ahead of us, he would either pause or backtrack.
We named him Bingo.

... to this!

Not so much a path as an irrigation ditch.

There was no signage at all, but we decided we had better backtrack.

After retracing our steps and sneaking behind a stadium, we finally glimpsed these promising terraces.

But, to get there, we had to walk through this field.

That is, as far as I could tell, a bull. Is it tethered? Maybe. Probably. There was another bull on the lower terrace also lying down.

We walked as far from both as we could get and were rewarded with a unique experience: Inca ruins with no other tourists. Just us and Bingo.

Bingo and Stephen.
Dogs love Stephen; they have good taste.

This bath was probably the most clearly identifiable thing we saw there. (When we got to Machu Picchu, our guide confirmed our interpretation of the structure.)

Quellorakay ruins
The circled hole is a toilet.

Come on in! There's room for two!

Bingo in the bathtub with Stephen.

It is very likely that this bathroom was only used either in rituals or by someone very wealthy.

This picture shows a niche in the upper-left corner where a god or offering would be placed.
Near the upper-right corner there is a trough where the water would have poured in.

The toilet shows that (some) water still flows through here, though most of it has been diverted by farmers for irrigation.

You have to have strong thighs to use an Inca toilet.

As we headed back toward town, we bumped into another couple from our inn who were as lost as we had been. After pointing them in the right direction, we stopped for a hot cup of Muña tea which is like a mint tea and is supposed to be good for digestion.

Muña tea — twigs and all!

Our hostal room provided a great view of the larger ruins near Ollantaytambo.

View of the granary from our bathroom.

Including these harrowing stairs! Maybe this is how those Incas developed their strong thighs?

Those are the treads, sticking out from the wall.

Labourers would carry their sacs of grain and potatoes up those stairs. I'm pretty sure they don't meet code.

On our second day in Ollantaytambo, we decided to do a little climbing. You know, to acclimatize.

This site had a sign and a gate. It even had hours, so we felt pretty secure that this would provide a fairly well-groomed hike. Our innkeeper told us it was maybe a 15-minute hike.

Hah! Maybe for a 30-year old who has lived at this elevation for years.

Stephen might even have been able to do it in that time, but I was huffing and puffing after about eight stairs. And there were many, many stairs.

Those hills are steep, y'all!

We were heading for the granaries perched up the hill.

I almost gave up. There were other groups passing us with ease.

Pinkuylluna: The floors are curved to provide drainage.

And Steve wouldn't have complained, but I decided to take a longer break, suck on a coca candy and wait until I could breathe again.

The circle shows the railings along the trail. Not terribly encouraging.

There were parts where I scrabbled up, using my hands. And the path never really became level, but glimpses of the granary were motivation.

Food storage area at Pinkuylluna, near Ollantaytambo.

I'm glad I persisted.

Corridor between the storage areas, Pinkuylluna.

It's hard to see, but walking along the corridor, you would go uphill and then downhill, presumably for drainage. (Wet grains and potatoes are never a good thing.) This corridor was not covered.

And the views were marvelous.

View of the larger archeological site, from the granary window at Pinkuylluna.

View of the verdant valley of Ollantaytambo, from Pinkuylluna.

I'll leave you with a chuckle.

This statue is of Cura Ocllo (Kura Oqllo), sister and wife of Manco Inca. She was slain by the conquering Spaniards in 1539. This sculpture commemorates her role in resisting the conquistadors, but was not made until 2012, at which time, the sculptor gave her a rather Marvel comics physique.

Cura Ocllo (Kura Oqllo) in Ollantaytambo

 The more typical body type of indigenous Andeans is shorter, small-breasted, and stocky.