If one had to pick a town in which to spend the night en route to Machu Picchu, Ollantaytambo would be among the best places anywhere in the highlands. More than 500 years ago, Ollantaytambo served as an important rest stop and administrative and religious center for the Incas.
View of Ollantaytambo during our hike to the colcas, directly above the town, visible from our hostal.
It’s still an enviable rest stop (and a 90-minute train ride from Aguas Calientes, from which you can climb or take a bus to Machu Picchu). The weather is warmer here than in most of the Andes due to its relatively low elevation (2,800 meters, or about 9,186 feet) and placement in a protected valley.
We arrived mid-afternoon with time enough to wander the narrow cobblestone streets before supper. Wherever you walk, you hear the sound of water, whether from the river that runs along the half-mile road that leads down to the train station, or from the mountain water that runs through the curbside, rock-lined channels of the residential quarters.
Elizabeth, Abby, Mariah and Trevor in the courtyard of Las Portadas in Ollantaytambo.
We stayed in the lovely Las Portadas hostel, with Leopoldo and Noemi Loayza as our hosts (Leopoldo also served as our bus driver during the week).
The next morning Abraham led us first on a challenging climb to see the colcas, or storage houses, that the Incas placed high above town, an ideal setting in which to preserve corn and potatoes. “Here they enjoyed natural refrigeration, taking advantage of wind that blew dry and cold,” he said.
We could see agricultural terraces spread all over the hillsides below us, taking advantage of micro climates in which to grow different varieties of crops. Abraham reminded us that Peru, the land of the first potato, has developed more than 500 varieties of potatoes and 200 varieties of corn.
The colcas, or storage houses, placed by the Incas above town to preserve corn and potatoes
Later that day we climbed the huge fortress that overlooks the town, a fortress fashioned by Inca leaders as a defense against invaders and a place for rest and refreshment in the center of what local people call the Sacred Valley. The stonework is among the finest. Abraham noted that the stone for the walls was quarried from a mountainside six kilometers away. The arrival of the Spaniards ended the work, prematurely. He showed us a mighty stone, resting alone, that never made it to a wall.
A group photo in front of some of the amazing Inca stonework.
Earlier in the day we visited Chinchero, with an opportunity to upgrade our wardrobes. Chinchero is a textile capital at 3,800 meters, or 12,467 feet, and home to many textile workshops. A young woman named Tania welcomed us to a small weavers shop, where she and others demonstrated the process of cleaning, softening and coloring llama and alpaca wool. The natural coloring agents included corn (purple), a cactus parasite (red), and eucalyptus (green). We also visited a colonial-era church that now sits on the foundation of what was once an Inca temple.
Shina listens to a weaver from Chinchero talk about the creative process that goes into making textiles.
After leaving Chinchero, we took a short-cut across rough terrain, passing solitary shepherds tending their sheep, to arrive at the archaeological site of Moray. Moray features an agricultural experiment station way ahead of its time with more than a dozen concentric terraces arranged in an earthen bowl, each terrace lower and more protected than the one above. Abraham said that Inca plant scientists used the terraces to simulate growing conditions at various elevations and climate conditions. There’s a difference of 12 to 15 degrees from the bottom terrace to the top, he said.
The concentric terraces of Moray, arranged in an earthen bowl.
After lunch in Ollantaytambo, with a birthday cake for Jessica, we boarded a train for Aguas Calientes.
Next stop: Machu Picchu.
Singing Happy Birthday & Feliz Cumpleaños to Jessica during lunch in Ollantaytambo.
Photos and editing by Karen Stoltzfus
Elizabeth, Abby, Mariah and Trevor in the courtyard of our hostal in Ollantaytambo.The rooms at Las Portadas in Ollantaytambo.Danielle, Abby, and Elizabeth present Duane with a Peruvian hat, a chullo, as a birthday present.The colcas are visible from the courtyard of our hostal.Hanging out in the courtyard at Las Portadas.Adriene plays a game called sapo in the courtyard of our hostal.Students gather in the courtyard before our hike to the colcas.Willy reminds us regularly of the importance of sunscreen when hiking at such high altitudes.Walking through town on our way to the trail that takes us to the colcas. The colcas, or agricultural storage houses, placed by the Incas above town to preserve corn and potatoes.A view of town as we begin our hike up the mountain.A view of Ollantaytambo as we hike up to the colcas.A view of the colcas, or agricultural storage houses, during our hike.A view of Ollantaytambo from the mountainside.The courtyard of a home in Ollantaytambo, visible from our hiking trail.Students make their way down from the colcas.Bryan, Armando and Frances make their way back to town from the colcas.Walking through the narrow streets of Ollantaytambo.Maddie, Mariah, Elizabeth and Abby on their way up to the fortress at Ollantaytambo.Lydia takes a break in Ollantaytambo.Looking down the terraces of the fortress at Ollantaytambo.View from the fortress at Ollantaytambo.A view of Ollantaytambo from the fortress.Inka stone work at Ollantaytambo.Abraham takes a photo.A group photo above Ollantaytambo.Students listening to our guide above Ollantaytambo.Bryan takes in the view above Ollantaytambo.Inka stonework.Elizabeth talks with our guide, Abraham.Group photo in front of the amazing Inca stone work.Duane and Karen above Ollantaytambo.Karen carries a cake for Jessica, made by one of our host families. Inside is a bottle of Inka Kola. Singing Happy Birthday & Feliz Cumpleaños to Jessica during lunch in Ollantaytambo.A Chinchero weaver, Tania, gives a presentation on how wool is prepared for weaving.Some of the many natural dyes used for the sheep and alpaca wool.Eucalyptus is used as natural dye for green.Wool dyed with purple corn.Plants used as natural dyes.Plants used as natural dyes.Samples of the dyed wool hang in the shop.Shina listens to Tania, a weaver from Chinchero talk about the creative process that goes into making local textiles. The textile shop we visited in Chinchero.The stone streets of Chinchero.The countryside around Chinchero.The countryside around Chinchero, which will soon be home to Cusco’s new airport.The colonial-era church at Chinchero.The colonial-era church at Chinchero.Jessica and Adriene make their way to the colonial-era church at Chinchero.The door to the church at Chinchero. No photos are allowed inside.The group poses for a photo in front of the church at Chinchero.Some of the shepherds we saw while traveling to Moray.The concentric circles, or terraces, of the archaeological site of Moray.The concentric terraces of Moray, arranged in an earthen bowl.The landscape around Moray.The landscape around Moray.View from the bus of the terrain we drove through on our way to Ollantaytambo.The shortcut we took through the countryside between Moray and Ollantaytambo.Duane captured a photo these little pigs with their mother from the bus – alongside the road – while traveling to Ollantaytambo.Willy, Trevor and Bryan prepare to board the PeruRail train to Aguas Calientes.Relaxing on board the train to Aguas Calientes.Bryan, Shina, Willy and Duane on the train to Aguas Calientes.
