Saturday at the Ollantaytambo Ruins

We got up early to meet our guide before the ticket office at the site opens at 7:30am so we could explore the ruins, see the sun rise over the mountain, and avoid the crowds.  We have discovered that hiring a guide for a couple of hours to learn about a site and to understand what we are looking at really adds to our experience.  

 

This next picture is the temple of the sun at the top of the ruins that is incomplete because the Incans had to flee the Spanish.

A grainery and storage building to the right and the town of Ollantaytambo below.

Rob, this Pisco Sour is for you.

Walking home in the evening..

And the end of another fine day.

Friday's adventure

We were going to climb the Ollantaytambo Incan ruins today, but our knees were tired from yesterday's climb around the Pisac ruins.  So we wandered some......

A pay phone!

Helped a girl carry a propane tank....

And decided to catch a collectivo up to the village of Chinchera (11,000 ft.) where the women are weavers.

Don't ask me what I bought!  I went because Suzanne really wanted to go, but I didn't think I'd want anything.  Yeh, right.....

Caught a ride home with a driver going to pick up people coming in on the train in Ollantaytambo,

Lucky us!

Got home late again with one more adventure under our belts.  

The unexpected part of the day.

I know now that I can't publish an entry with too many photos.  It takes too long from this end and it can take too long on your end as well.

We came upon a religious festival.......I think these men bring their young bulls who are yoked together in pairs and who pull an old single bladed plow, to maintain fertility and to bless the crops.  As people pored out of the church, the men and their bulls led the procession.  Following them was the priest, small children dressed in costumes, statues carried by men, then men in knitted masks, and all of the people that attended the mass.  We followed them to the plaza, but with our limited Spanish this was the best we could figure out.  It was an unexpected experience.

It was barely noon so we got a kabob from a women who is cooking them each day by the bridge and then jumped on a several buses to get to the other end of the Sacred Valley to a town called Pisac.  There are ruins there that were started by pre-Incan peoples and finished under the rule of the Incas.  The pre-Incan people use morter between their stones, and the Incas used none.

Absolutely incredible!  It was getting late, but we caught a bus back to Urubamba and then one of the last collectivos back to Ollantaytambo.  We got home late and in the dark, but of course it was worth it.

Unplanned day of surprises (part I) too many photos to load quickly so will split this entry

I was on wifi today for the first time so posted two former posts to my blog.  Yesterday was our first whole day in Ollantaytambo.  I could live here, no problema.

Views from our rooftop.

More street scenes

 Bmv

Peru, At Last!!

We left Tuesday on the 3:30 am airporter and now it is 9:30 pm Wednesday night and we are here in Ollantaytambo in the Andes of Peru.  Our flights were long, but we didn't have the sense that we were starting a grand adventure until we got into a taxi to get a collectivo (small van that can carry 16 people) for Ollantaytambo.  We both were hit with overwhelming sense of excitement and awe.  And so it begins.......

We got into Lima and to a small hostel at 2am.  We left again for the flight to Cuzcu at 10 am.

And now the magic begins...the ride out of Cuzco.

We arrive in Ollantaytambo.  It is the most wonderful little town I have ever seen!  It has been inhabited since the 1500's.  There are some narrow streets for the cars and buses, but many streets are about 5 to 10 feet wide.  We live up Calle De Medio about 3 blocks at the Andean Moon Hostel.

We were greeted at check-in with a cup of coca tea to help us get used to the altitude.

Pre-Peruvian part of trip

Fiirst, the two day trip up Hwy. 5 was wonderful, feeling the miles roll by, looking at the incredible  scenery, listening to music, and stopping along the way to see old friends.  The sky was ever changing...the clouds dancing over and around the sun with occasional rain squalls hammering the car.  

Saturday was Julie and Kabir's"s wedding on the waterfront in Seattle.  The day was splendid!  It was a true blending of cultures and religions....a joining of families and a celebration of the diversity that will, hopefully, be a window into the future of the world.  

And my niece, Meghan, and boyfriend at the wedding

Sunday we celebrated Mother's Day with Meghan in Seattle