19 June: Ollantaytambo to Cusco

We stayed at Hostal Iskay in Ollantaytambo . The whole thing was really stunning--the hotel had a very local and unique feel, the town was fascinating, and the ruins on the surrounding mountains made this one of our favorite accommodations. From the deck outside our room we could view the ruins which were on the mountains on both sides of our valley.

A View from our Balcony

 We had a very high opinion of this hotel and would stay there again as well as recommend it to others.  We were also pleased with our choice of staying in Ollantaytambo.

About Ollantaytambo: (The following is extracted from Wikipedia:)
Ollantaytambo is an Incan town around 9000 feet above sea level about 45 miles northwest of Cusco. It has four streets parallel with the mountains and seven cross streets. It is unique because it  has some of the oldest continuously occupied dwellings in South America and because it is near the site where the Incans won a battle against the Spanish conquistadors in 1536. Ollantaytambo ruins are on the west side and consist of a ceremonial center, terraces, storehouses, and fountains. All are accessed by steep steps.The storehouses, located on both sides of the valley were built at high altitude where the wind and colder temperatures would preservve the grain. The grain was poured in through the top window and removed for use from the window downhill at the bottom of the storehouse.

water running along the edge of the walkway through the town

One of the many small stores in the area

 I walked with the proprieter to pick up fresh bread  baked over a fire-heated stone stove from a bakery about 2 blocks down which had been in use since Incan times. After breakfast we walked to the Ollantaytambo ruins.(Good explanation here) 

 Because we were so early it was almost completely empty. We could have hired a guide but chose not to. In retrospect we wish we had either hired the guide or printed out a guide prior to coming since we didn't know what each section had been.  Apparently the ruins fill up later in the day since most people come from further away.  

After walking around the ruins and admiring the alpacas, we walked around Ollantaytambo and had lunch at a place which grew much of its own food and had interesting benches and tables mostly outside.
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After lunch we walked up to the ruins on the other side, far less extensive but far steeper. 

Steps up to the Opposite Side from the Ruins
There were a couple of granaries built into the side of the cliff and a face cut into the rocks.  We walked up to the first granary.

Our Room with the View of the Other Side of the Mountain

Then at 1 PM our driver met us and drove us to our hotel in Cusco stopping at various places along the way.

First was the Moray Ruins:
Moray information extracted from here:
Moray (30 miles NW of Cusco, 11,500 feet above sea level) was comprised of multipe circular or elliptical terraced circular depressions, the largest of which was about 100 feet deep with an irrigation system as was typical for Incan terraces. Their depth, design, and orientation with respect to wind and sun creates a temperature difference of as much as 27 °F between the top and the bottom. They had been used to grow food--some suggest that the Incan used them as experimental stations to develop new types of food. Apparently the ancient Peruvians developed 3,000 types of edible potato and 150 types of corn.

Second was the Salt Mines at Maras:
 (Salt mine source here)
"The Salt Mines near Maras have been operating continuously since before Incan times. There are over 5,000 salt ponds, some owned by families, others unused. Since pre-Inca times, salt has been obtained in Maras by evaporating salty water from a local subterranean stream. The highly salty water emerges at a spring, a natural outlet of the underground stream. The flow is directed into an intricate system of tiny channels constructed so that the water runs gradually down onto the several hundred ancient terraced ponds. Almost all the ponds are less than four meters square in area, and none exceeds thirty centimeters in depth....As water evaporates from the sun-warmed ponds, the water becomes supersaturated and salt precipitates as various size crystals onto the inner surfaces of a pond's earthen walls and on the pond's earthen floor. The pond's keeper then closes the water-feeder notch and allows the pond to go dry. Within a few days the keeper carefully scrapes the dry salt from the sides and bottom, puts it into a suitable vessel, reopens the water-supply notch, and carries away the salt. Color of the salt varies from white to a light reddish or brownish tan, depending on the skill of an individual worker. Some salt is sold at a gift store nearby.The salt mines traditionally have been available to any person wishing to harvest salt." 

Our driver next took us to a weaving center 

where we were able to pet alpacas and learn about traditional dying and weaving. I bought an alpaca blanket here, something that turned out to be a wise investment considering that it got down to an unseasonably cold 26 degrees F while we were trekking in the mountains.

and Chinchero--the Chinchero ruins weren't as impressive as the others, but the walk up was nice, and the shops were interesting. 

View of the town that we walked through to get to the Chinchero Ruins


After that our driver drove us to Cusco and dropped us off at the top of the steep steps

which led to Hostel Resbalosa, our least favorite hotel and one we would not stay at again nor recommend to others. First the rooms were cold--temp got down to the 30s at night--our room which had no insulation was right next to a door to an inner courtyard that was kept open, and there was a window at the top of the bathroom that was permanently opened to the outside.  In addition the water had really low pressure and at best was lukewarm. On the positive side the Wi-Fi worked well.

But just a couple buildings down the steps was by far our favorite restaurant on the trip, Organika.