June 27th 9pm
With one week of our trip completed, tonight’s hotel is the
Munay Tika (which means lots of ticks- kidding!)- it actually means “ Jungle
Flower”. It is situated along the river in the town of Ollantaytambo,
some 90 minutes drive from Cuzco.
Our journey this
morning began at 9:30 with a brisk 3 block uphill walk to meet our bus (the
street being too narrow to handle anything bigger than a car. With luggage
stowed we travelled to the hills above the city stopping at a silver jewelry
and wool factory to get “fleeced” of some of our Soles ( So-lays), the local
currency. Some of our group were a little inattentive at the orientation and
forgot to bring overnight gear (( they thought it was a day trip) so they, the
tour guide and bus had to return to the hotel for extra clothing etc.
After a somewhat
delayed re-start we set off through some smaller valleys before heading towards
an area known as the Sacred Valley, officially known as the Rio Urubamba
Valley. It follows a path
west along the river for about 80 km with Ollantaytambo its westerly entrance.
A brief stop on the
way, allowed us a short visit to an animal sanctuary where we were able to see
llamas, vicuñas, deer, puma and alpacas and a couple of macaws. We were also
able to witness 3 condors who were coaxed into flying with offerings of raw
meat. With a wingspan reaching over 7 feet these were impressive looking birds,
apparently the worlds largest flying species. All of the aforementioned animals
were rescued after injury in the wild or mistreatment at the hands of abusive
owners. [ The macaws were smuggled aboard merchant ships stowed in pvc piping
for sale in Lima.
Naturally the mortality rate was very high in such confined quarters.]
Leaving the
sanctuary, we made a slow meandering descent into the valley along a series of
hairpin bends.
The first major
town we encountered was Pisac ( population 2000) Above the town is a fairly
massive mountain with some amazingly large terraced areas several hundred feet
above the valley floor. ( The Inca apparently preferred living on the mountain[
closer to their gods] and only used the valley floor for agriculture]
Passing through
Pisac we climbed ever higher into the hills, the road turning to a narrow
gravel path with mountainside to the left and a steep drop into the valley to
the right. There were no safety barriers at any point on the route to prevent a
drop. While it was, essentially, a white knuckle ride the hills and mountains
were amazing in their beauty. On the valley floor and lower slopes were
hundreds of fields of various crops, with not a tractor or any other mechanical
device to be seen.
After 45 minutes we
eventually arrived at a small village by the name of Pampa Llaccta.
Awaiting us was the
village leader and several inhabitants, mostly female, dressed in traditional
costume. After a brief introduction and a short musical performance we were
taken to a dining room where we had a lunch of
quinoa soup, vegetables and rice and for the brave at heart, 2 roast
guinea pigs. Not being one to pass up something different, I did sample a
piece. Tasting somewhere between pork and lamb its texture was not to my liking
and I cant see anyone getting rich opening up a chain of KFG’s any time soon.
After lunch we
returned to our previous meeting place where the women of the village gave
demonstrations on wool spinning and dyeing. The latter is done using various
leaves and berries and in some cases cochineal (the red dye obtained from
crushing and drying a certain type of beetle. [As a child I remember my mother used
it as a food colouring in home made cake and icing]
With the demo’s over the
group then offered samples of weavings for sale. After some negation I found my
wallet somewhat enlightened and my back pack just a little heavier.
After a group photo
and handshakes all round we boarded our bus for our return journey along the
highway of loose gravel, trying not to think about flying buses. 45 minutes
later we again passed through Pisac and began the hour long trip to
Ollantaytambo. The mountain ranges ahead changed colour as the sun dipped
towards its resting place for the night. To the north of the town of Urubamba a distant
glacier was visible some km away.
Arriving at the hotel
at 5:30 offered us a chance to drop our bags and take a brief walk around town
before darkness decended. After the trekkers bought snacks and water for their
first days’s hike we had a small group supper sharing conversations about our
respective home countries.
A planned early
sleep is not happening- must be the mountain valley air. Fortunately it is much
warmer here than in Cuzco,
so I am happy to sleep with a room temperature of 15/16 as opposed to 8 or 9.
My self imposed wake
up call is 6:45 in order to allow time to explore before our bus returns to Cuzco at 9:30am
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