Peru (day three)

The magnificent travels of Megann Phillips: a journal

Day 03 in Peru

March 17, 2013

The city of my perrito libre

        We caught a tourist's bus to Ollantaytambo today. (Side note: It was so much more pleasant than the public bus we took to Pisac yesterday.) The drive lasted about an hour and a half, leaving from Cusco and journeying through the Peruvian countryside all the way to the far end of The Sacred Valley of the Inca; it was beautiful. 

        Driving along the twisty-turny roads, I was able to comprehend a much more complete picture of Peru. As we left the historic district of Cusco, we drove into areas not so blessed with clean streets and well-groomed plazas. Immediately surrounding the historic center of the city was was a sort of urban-ish suburb, which was obviously neglected compared to inner Cusco, but still rather charming. The markets thrived, but businesses and homes which lined the streets were no longer coordinated in the one-blue-door-after-another sort of way. The streets were loosely littered with pieces of garbage, but it was far from filthy until we reached municipalities several miles out. There, dogs wrestled in garbage cans hidden by piles of waste, and the houses were of the ugliest sort. The streets were torn to pieces by weather, and the poverty of the area was apparent. 

        When we left the wretched outskirt cities, the countryside, though still obviously poverty-stricken, was a sight for sore eyes. Little adobe houses, often next to the ruins of toppled adobe houses seemingly several decades old, were dispersed sparsely through tall grass and a scattering of livestock, which instead of being fenced in, were tied on long pieces of rope attached to stakes in the ground. Occasionally, I'd see a woman or a man in traditional dress herding cattle or sheep, pigs or llamas. It was breathtaking, especially considering the green, mountainous landscape that served as a backdrop.

        When our bus finally reached the village in the valley beneath Ollantaytambo, Dad, Cara, and I ate lunch before hiking to the ruins. (I tried red fish ceviche, which, although it tasted strongly if cilantro, was still quite good when eaten with cammote on the side.) It sustained me for a fairly long and taxing hike covering what seemed like a thousand stairs. 

        The ancient Inca fortress was awe-inspiring, and walking along precarious paths made the experience totally thrilling. I tried to imagine myself an Inca, living in the buildings when they were a thriving metropolis instead of roofless, empty ruins.

        Hiking back down the mountain after two hours of exploration, I was sad to see them become smaller behind me; however, my sorrows were partially mended upon meeting a friendly stray dog. I think I fell in love with that dog in the ten minutes that I knew him, and I'll forever remember Ollantaytambo as the ruins that the kind black perrito was blissfully ignorant of, even though they towered over his home, their intimidating presence visible from every angle. 

        It broke my heart when we inevitably left the kind stray and Ollantaytambo for Cusco, but other adventures and acquaintances await me tomorrow. We took a taxi home to the Orchidea Real Hostel, but not before tasting some ice cream the flavor of chicha morada.

The people who live in the small town beneath Ollantaytambo, I believe, are some of the luckiest in the world. They build their lives adjacent to the remains of one of history's most impressive empires.

Welcome to the Parque Nacional de Ollantaytambo!

A view of the impressive ruins from a distance

Full disclosure: I have a bit of an obsession with ancient Incan stair steps. I can't logically explain it; they are just really awesome to me. I loved using them to climb the old mountainside terraces and feeling like I had been transported back in time six hundred years.

Oh! Hello, cow grazing and defecating ten feet from a world-renowned national historic landmark.

Homes and other ancient ruined buildings originally constructed with adobe and relatively small stones

This, here, is the Temple of the Sun. Although you wouldn't think so just by looking at it, it is one of the Inca's most astonishing architectural feat. Without the use of the wheel, they hauled the temple's enormous slabs of rock from an area over a mile away (and remember: the Peruvian landscape is far from level or even).