Ollantaytambo

Spent the day exploring this beautiful town. Ollantaytambo has been continuously inhabited since the 13th century. Many of the houses are built on Inca stone foundations.

Toured the archeological site which has extensive Inca ruins for over 2 hours. This site was a agricultural, administrative, social, religious and military centre in the era of the Tahuantinsuya (Inca) empire and the scene of some famous battles as the Inca King retreated from the invading Spanish in the late 15th century.

These ruins were the best we'd seen so far.

 

Amazing Inca terracing

 

More than 200 steps up the terraces to the viewing platform

View of the Scared Valley looking west. Macchu Pichu lies behind the distant snowcapped mountain

 

 

Old storehouses  - view from the Inca site. 

After lunch, we hiked up the mountain opposite the Inca site which had more ruins built into the hillside.
The path was very steep and in the afternoon sun, it was quite warm, but the climb was worth it with magnidficent views of the town, Inca site and the Valley. There were storehouses and other buildings to explore. We got about halfway up and the guys decided to climb to an old Inca sentry point, which was located close to the summit. The notorious Sacred Valley afternoon breeze had sprung up and it was quite windy. Us girls decided we had done enough and left the three amigos to complete their challenge.
We met them at the bottom about 1 hour later, their mission accomplished.

The storehouses

The three amigos

Taking in the view from the storehouses

Looking up at the the Inca sentry gate (on the right) from the storehouses

Andrew....

and Jack at the sentry gate

The view from the sentry gate looking down at the town with the Inca site in the background

Happy hour with Pisco Sours to rehydrate, more cards and dinner at the Camerons accommodation, a B&B located on the train platform.

The Sacred Valley

Travelled through the Sacred valley enroute to Ollantaytambo.
We stopped at small village, Corao where there was a small market. Our guide assured us that the goods were locally made so we walked through and found a knitted hat for jack in the shape of a llama head (which was to become infamous) and I bought myself a beautiful jumper made from baby alpaca wool

We drove on to Pisac where we stopped briefly. We sampled a chicken pasty (empananda) straight out of the bakers wood oven and were shown through a jewellery shop next door where the jeweller was making silver ornaments and cutting gemstones. No purchases made in this store. 

The markets looked the same, but different?! and we cut our visit short to move on.

After reaching Urubamba (principal town in the Sacred Valley), we headed into the mountains and visited the town of Chinchero (3762m). Here, there were extensive Inca ruins there which we toured. We also visited the local weavers inc. and watched the women at work. These women contributed work to the Textile Museum we had visited in Cusco, but it was wonderful to see them in action, especially the older "grandmothers" handing down their knowledge and skills to the younger women of the community.

Sacred Valley

Urubamba

Enroute to Chinchero

We had a late lunch at a classy restaurant at Urubamba, overlooking the river. It was buffet style, so naturally Jack partook of all of the desserts on offer. I sampled quinoa soup, quinoa salads, Rocotto Relleno and some alpaca carpaccio.Absolutely delicious!

 

Our destination for the day, Ollantaytambo, was only a short drive from the lunch spot and we checked in to the Hotel Pakiratampu. Lovely room over looking gardens with a huge kingside bed and bathtub and suurounded by mountains!

Played cards with the Camerons. The hat Jack had purchased earlier that day became the "prize" for the person who lost three consecutive rounds of cards and the card game became known as Llama Head!!!
Not much to eat for dinner after such a big lunch....

Who's the Llama Head?

Cuzco

Still feeling very flat and tired today, but not wanting to miss out on anything, I soldiered on....

Simon had planned a 8km walk, starting from some ruins in the hills above Cuzco and ending back in town.

Taxis dropped us out to Tambomachay and we walked around the ruins there before picking up a mountain track. We meandered over hills trying to find a spot which was 4000m high. Unfortunately, we never found one, but we got tantalisingly close. It was beautiful walking in the mountains away from the city. 

I was walking quite slowly, not because of the altitude, but because I was feeling so fatigued from the virus.

We headed downhill and stopped for an early lunch break at about 1130.

Simon then led us down in the direction of Sacsaywuman, but stumbled across another site. The lads couldn't resist the opportunity to explore the large number of caves.

We continued the downhill path, through a eucalypt forest and then found a small site, Quenko, located above Sacsaywuman. By now, I was really plodding and was feeling very frustrated with myself and for the group. A guide showed us around Quenko for about 30 mins and then we continued down to Sacsaywuman. We admired the Sacsaywuman ruins - amazing sight with some rocks 8.5m tall. Simon read the history of the site to us from Peter Frost's book. Fascinating story.

 

We were all in need of refreshments, so we headed into town in search of the bakery we had visited yesterday. Eventually we found it and even I had a danish pastry and a hot chocolate. We ended up walking a lazy 15km today!

Upon returning to the hotel, I had a nap and woke feeling a little better. We had dinner at the same restaurant we had visited the first night in Cuzco. I had a lamb shank, hoping that some red meat might help fortify my immune system....

Cuzco - the old Inca capital

Cuzco is 3,310m above sea level, but not really feeling the altitude as we have already been much higher and hre acclimatised.

Today, Simon had planned a walking tour around the city following the Inca Wall Trail. We headed for San Blas which is the arty bohemian part of town, walking the cobblestoned lanes finding examples of Inca stonework. We even found a bakery for morning tea.

Jesuit church - Plaza De Armas

Thre Three Amigos - Plaza De Armas

We then toured Koricancha which was the Royal Inca Palace in Cuzco and now has a Catholic cathedral built on its Inca rock foundations.

Massive canvasses painted by artists of the Cusco School of Art

The grounds of Koricancha were once filled with hundreds of gold statues

After lunch we looked through the weavers museum displayed how the traditional weavers from the rural areas of Cuzco produce their work. The scarves, beanies, table runners etc are all still handwoven on a loom. They weavers spin their own wool and dye it using plants and flowers. Amazing work. I resisted the temptation of buying something there, wanting to purchase direct from the weavers in the Sacred Valley instead.

We then made our way to the Inca museum, which contained another interesting collection of pre Inca and Inca artifacts. 

Dinner was at a restaurant next door to the hotel, very nice organic food.
Today, I had been feeling very flat. By lunch time, my lips and chin had erupted into a mound of cold sores. OUCH!! A virus was taking hold! By dinner, tired and grumpy, I took the doctors advice, started some oral anitvirals and hoped that I would feel better tomorrow....

The Orient Express - Peruvian style!

A day that I had really been looking forward to, a train trip from Puno to Cuzco

I have always loved the romance of train travel, experiencing many steam train trips as a child courtesy of an uncle who was a member of the local Steamranger train network. 

This was going to be a trip down memory lane!

Met at the hotel by the guide and driven to Puno train station, only a 5 min drive away.

Photocopied tickets no problem, did not even have to show our passports

We were ushered on to the platform and directed to Carriage B. We were led to our seats which were both forward facing. In front of us was a table set with a crisp white damask tablecloth, a red rose in a white china vase and a menu. Plenty of leg room. Brass luggage holders above our seats. Lined with wood, carriage lights along each side of the carriage and lamps on each table. Even marble topped vanities in the bathroom.

The train looked just like the Orient Express, funny that, because it is owned by the same company.

The train trip is a bit slow and rocky in places, but overall is still very comfortable.

 

The express bus from Puno to Cuzco takes about 7 hours. The train takes about 10!, but oh, what style!

Big picture windows, and a glass-walled observation carriage with an open-air rear section, I felt like a queen. 

There were many times when I just sat by the window with my nose pressed against the window pane revelling in the experience and enjoying the views of the Andean plateau as we headed towards the snow-capped Andes mountains.

All aboard!

Enjoying the view

Downtown Juliaca

Suburban Juliaca - a sobering sight

 To break up the journey, we had some entertainment along the way.Starting with a complimentary Pisco sour at 10am!!! Peruvian singers and dancers entertained us in the Bar carriage for about an hour. Boy is it hard to dance in an aisle with a train rocking! 

Lunch was a leisurely affair - 3 courses served by the staff in military fashion. The dessert was a standout!

We stopped about halfway along the trip at Abra La Raya, a high mountian pass (4300m). At an old railway siding local ladies were trying to sell their wares - no money parted with this time!

Observation carriage

  

 Crossing the Andean pateau

Abra La Raya

Back on the train, we played cards for a couple of hours, before there was a bartending course showing how to make the perfect Pisco Sour. During the afternoon, the train was descending through the valleys following the Rio Urubamba towards Cuzco. We partook of some afternoon tea and arrived in Cuzco about 30 mins behind schedule, in complete darkness. 

Enjoyed the journey - magnificent vistas the whole way, from Andean plateau, to high mountain passes with snow capped mountains and then river valleys.Superb!

Rio Urubamba

Blue gum eucalypts in abundance

Catching up with Andrew

Heading into Cuzco

 After checking into our hotel which was located just around the corner from the Plaza de Armas, we only had dessert for dinner at a restaurant 2 doors down from the hotel. 

Looking forward to exploring the old Inca capital.....