Puma Marca

My last day in Ollantaytambo was wonderfully warm and sunny. I was not sure how to spend the day and so asked advice from Joaquin at the B&B. He made several suggestions and I chose the option to walk into town along an old Inca trail. This meant going to the end of the platform and then following the railway line for a while before coming to steps that led onto the trail.
The first part was easy, but when I clinbed the steps, I found the way was running with the water of a small stream. Unsure what to do, I saw two men coming from further up and asked if this was really the way into Ollantaytambo. They assured me that it was and so I continued, picking my way along dry rocks. Then, the route became a waterfall!! I looked back and saw that I was being waved to go ahead and I began to climb following the visible footprints of my waytellers. The climb was awkward but not difficult and I felt a sense of achievement in reaching the top and finding a broad, dry trail alongside fields of corn and an Inca irrigation system. It was a very pleasant walk, emerging underneath the walls of the great fortress and then into the main square.

A good hour was spent in the little Museum which was opened especially for me. It is in a beautiful old building and though the old artifacts are few, the information about the ancient and modern way of life was really good -- and in English as well as Spanish. Sadly, there is no-one who wants to take care of the Museum and it may have to close.

Still only 11.30am and I wandered across the square and enquired about going to Puma Marca a small Inca ruin in the mountains. Although they offer trips on horseback, I wasn't sure that I could manage two hours each way (and if I did, I feared the aching consequences next day!) so, my next best option was to take a taxi as far as possible up the track and to walk the rest of the way, see the site and walk back to town. It took a while, but a taxi and guide were found and a price negotiated. Whilst I waited, a Sundog appeared overhead -- a circular 'rainbow' around the sun!! I had never seen one before this trip and now, here was a second one -- the first was on Isla del Sol on Lake Titicaca.

The taxi ride took us up a steep winding dirt track with wonderful mountain vistas and we continued until the car bogged down in a deep muddy puddle. The driver and guide lifted and pushed and the car got free but the driver was understandably unwilling to go further and we walked from there. It was a steep climb. I had thought that after La Paz I was good for any Sacred Valley altitude, but the climb was taxing and I finally got to the gate of Puma Marca puffing and panting and barely able to speak.

The ruins were beautiful and the site so tranquil and with beautiful wildflowers everywhere that it was hard to believe the warlike past. The evidence was there in the blackened stonework -- Pizarro had burnt the citadel in retribution for having been defeated at Ollantaytambo. The location was fantastic, high above an intersection of 3 valleys, controlling routes into Cusco, the jungle and Ollantaytambo. The river ran singing loudly overthe rocks below and around was a natural energy vortex from the mountains.

My guide, Daniel, was knowlegeable and could give me as much of the history and function as I wanted as well as respecting the times I wanted quiet space to myself. We meditated together in the Temple and later shared my bread and cheese with the Custodian.

The walk back was wonderful, down steep tracks onto an old Inca road which wove around the mountains and eventually down into Ollantaytambo town. There were more waterfalls to cross en route and I 'missed' a stepping stone at one of them and got a trainer full of water. I eventually reached my hotel tired and sunburnt and sat over a cold Cusqueña beer watching the trains arriving back from Macchu Piccu and hoping the returning ravellers had had as good a day as me.

Ollantaytambo

I've visited Ollantaytambo two or three times in the past but always with a group or guide and so with a constraint on the time there. This time I had three days in the little town which still retains the Inca layout of roads and buildings. Like Cusco, the small streets are cobbled and the lower part of the houses is constructed of large irregular stone blocks. Unlike Cusco, there is a constant flow of water alongside the streets in special channels that bring water down from the mountains.

My trip nearly didn't happen as there had been a call to strike action by all transport workers. It was cancelled at the last minute and so buses and taxis were getting through the sacred valley but no trains were running. It had been raining heavily in the night and was still raining when I got my bus to Urubamba (to change for Ollantaytambo) and so I was unsure whether the great rocks and trees on the road were from landslides or were part of a deliberate blockade. It was somewhat scary taking a slalom route through whilst avoiding oncoming vehicles. Still, all was well and I reached my hotel in one piece.

I had been recommended to stay at El Albergue and so I booked in for my stay. The website said it was 'next to the railway station'. In fact, it was so next that it was on the platform and the restaurant and bar were shared with travellers to and from Macchu Piccu. It was fun to watch the various classes of train go by whilst eating breakfast or dinner and I was a little tempted to join the train myself but then, there was plenty to see in Ollantaytambo itself.

I spent two days exploring the great ruins -- wandering all over and watching condors fly over the mountain tops. I found the energy to climb all the terraces and walkways and to the top of the complex of buildings above the great Temple of the Sun. I 'found' the place where the small falcons were nesting, meditated in the Temple of the Condor and by the Bath of the Ñusta. The weather was kind to me and the sun shone for most of every day there.