Yesterday was my last full day in Peru. I visited another set of Inca ruins of Ollantaytambo set in a spectacular setting overlooking the town of the same name in the Sacred Valley. In the morning I took the collectivo from Cusco (private mini-vans going to a common destination that depart when full so travel on no particular schedule) for the 2 hour ride to Ollantaytambo. It is a charming small town overlooked by the ruins.
River running through Ollantaytambo town.
I had a very enjoyable time rambling through the ruins and sat for a long while just admiring the view and enjoying the gentle breeze. Even up on the top of the hill you can hear the river rushing by far below.
The ruins up on the hill
More ruins from below
Climbing the terraces to get to the temple ruins above
Rambling through the ruins
River running through the ruins
Entrance to the temple of the sun
Giant interlocking standing stones at the Temple of the Sun
Stones that were in transit to finish the temple when the site was abandoned. The large stones were from a quarry across the river valley.
View of the quarry across the river and the current town below
The view down the valley from the terraces – a wonderful spot to sit and admire
If I had planned things better I would have stopped here for the night before going to Machu Picchu as it is only about a 1 hour train ride from here and this is a much nicer town than Aguas Calientes. So in the end in doing this separate day trip I was repeating the journey I did by bus the other day on the way to Machu Picchu. It was still a fun day trip, but makes more sense to do it the other way if I were short on time.
This was one of the 16 places included in my Boleto Turistico which is needed to get into all the archeological sites and some of the museums around Cusco. It cost 130 Soles ($52 CDN) so not cheap. In the end I only saw three places included – Ollantaytambo, Pisac, and Sacsaywaman (sexy woman!). Seeing four major ruins (incluing Machu Picchu which was separate) that is quite enough for one week. Unfortunately this is the only way to see these sites. There are partial tickets to 4 sites but they are only valid for a few days while the full ticket spans 10 days. Anyone want a partially used boleto touristico?
As I mentioned, yesterday was my last full day in Peru. Today I fly to Lima and then early in the morning on to Nicaragua. I changed my plans a bit to spend two weeks in Nicaragua to enjoy some beach and sunshine. I’ve revived the surfing plans and am going to participate in a surf and yoga camp for 1 week then join a quick one week tour around Nicaragua. Since the surf camp doesn’t have internet I’m going to just relax and enjoy the beach. I’ll give you a full update (and pics!) on the surfing in a week or so! And if all goes to plan, I’ll be heading back to Toronto for a couple of weeks on March 29. Then mid-April I’m off to Spain to walk the Camino!!