As a change of pace, we decided to take it really easy on this day. For that reason, this day turned out unlike any other on any of our trips thus far. Still, we got up fairly early at 7am so that we could make it to the ruins we saw in brief the previous afternoon before all the other tourists arrived. Our host provided a typical Peruvian breakfast which was bread, jam, and tea. That satisfied our need, so we ate and headed out.
We were fortunate to be let into the ruins because they stamped our tickets the previous day and said to just let them know that we came late yesterday and weren’t able to see much because it was near closing time. Our guide told us it would be ok, so we trusted him, though I was a bit skeptical. I thought they shouldn’t stamp us that afternoon and instead should stamp it when we come in the morning. Anyway, fortunately everything worked out, and it wasn’t difficult for us to get in. It was great in that there was pretty much no one there! So we started by climbing the 200 steps up the fortress. No one told us that spending hours on a stairmaster was the proper way to prepare for Peru sightseeing! We made our way gradually up and enjoyed the views, again impressed at what the Incans had built and how they did it all without machinery. I was slightly disappointed that none of the rooms in the structures had anything in them. It would have been nice to see what the spaces were used for and what kind of tools or chairs or whatever they had for comfort and daily living. We met a retired couple (we’re guessing) from Atlanta that we explored the ruins with a bit.
After about 90 mins, we felt like we had sufficiently seen everything, so we headed back to our place, which was just a five minute walk. We lounged in the bedroom for an hour or so, reading and resting. Then we went back to Hearts for their delicious brunch menu. We had French toast and huevos rancheros, both of which were tasty. We walked around the town a bit, looked for more gifts, sampled the chocolate at the organic chocolate factory, and visited a store that gives profits back to at-risk women. Unfortunately, we weren’t really in the mood to buy anything, and we didn’t find anything we really liked, so we went back to the house empty-handed.
By this time it was 1230pm, and we had to check out by 2pm. First we packed up our stuff, separating what we would need to take that night to Agua Calientes and Machu Picchu the next day. Then I snoozed a bit while Khivan studied her guidebook further. At 2pm we moved all of our stuff downstairs, where our host had graciously agreed to store our stuff that we did not need to take to Machu Picchu. You are limited to one small bag on the train, so that’s why we had to leave most of our stuff behind and take only the essentials.
Our train that evening was at 7pm, and we had to be at the station at 630pm. So we had about 4.5 hours to kill. First we made the hike up to the granaries. We had thought about doing the hike earlier in the day, but decided against it because we wanted to take it easy. Plus Khiv and I both had some stomach stuff going on, so we didn’t want to push ourselves too much. But at this point we had a lot of time to kill and not a lot to do. Ollantaytambo is a tiny town where, in my opinion, the main recreational activity is hanging out in the square and people-watching. So we agreed to go slow and go only as far as we felt like, even if that was short of the granaries. Our host said the hike takes about ten minutes up. We had a hard time believing that, seeing how high on the mountain it was. Plus, the guidebook said at least 1.5 hours round trip. Anyway, we ventured out.
It was a steep climb, but there were rugged steps almost the whole way. There were handrails at a few places, but they were full of splinters. So it was not the safest hike we’ve ever done, but we kept on. There was a nice breeze that kept the sun from being blazing hot, but that same breeze almost made us lose our balance a couple of times. Half an hour later we made it to the granary. So not the ten minutes our host mentioned, but we thought she might have also meant the first granary and not the upper one.
We sat up on the hill staring out at the town below, chatting about our sabbatical travels thus far. After a couple selfies, we headed back down. We figured the hike down would take longer because of the steep descent and uneven ground. We were wrong though. I guess the slowness due to unevenness did not make up for the slowness on the way up due to difficulty of ascending giant stairs at elevation. Total trip including our hangout at the top was about an hour. Were not sure if the guidebook was referring to trekking further along the path or if we were somehow just that fast. I’m gonna say it was a combination of both.
So we still had about three hours to kill. First order of business: gelato. I got stratiacella and Khiv got chocolate. It was very creamy and delicious! Good recommendation by Lonely Planet! We sat in the town square and people-watched as we enjoyed our gelato. Then we walked around the town a bit more, trying to find streets we hadn’t already explored. Then we sat on the steps of the plaza, and I started taking notes for the blog while Khivan read about Machu Picchu in the guidebook. Surprisingly, it clouded over, and got a bit chilly. We went back to the house for a bit, since the host said we could keep the outdoor keys until 6pm. We changed out of our sweaty clothes, put on something warmer, and then I continued blogging while Khivan read about other South American destinations and pet the kitty. We learned that Uruguay will be our next place in South America. Apparently it’s a not so well known paradise.
We got hungry around 5pm and headed three doors down again for more pizza. We enjoyed it so much the night before, and it sounded great again. It was excellent again! This time we ordered a large pizza with chorizo, mushrooms, garlic and parsley. While we waited we had excellent WiFi. I caught up on email, and Facebook, and set my fantasy football lineup for the week. Khivan read more about Machu Picchu and caught up on Facebook too. She also started looking into luxury vacations for our next trip. LOL. We both agreed that we’d had enough of small rooms with walls and windows that didn’t keep out much sound. I wonder how much a luxury vacation in Uruguay would cost?
We filled our bellies and had a couple slices left over. We took it to go, grabbed our stuff, and made the ten minute walk to the train station. The train was quite nice. Clean and a free drink and snack provided. No WiFi, but I knew that would be asking too much. 🙂 I spent a good portion of the time blogging, while Khivan read her book.
Our final stop was scheduledf or Aguas Calientes (AC), which means hot water; the town was named after its hot springs. We we arrived in AC, we got in line to buy the bus tickets for the next day. After that, we realized we first had to withdraw money. Not as many places take credit as I thought, and we still had to dole out some cash for the guided tour at Machu Picchu tomorrow. As we walked to the ATM, we saw a lady carrying a sign with Khivan’s name on it. She didn’t say who she was except that when she checked with the hotel she found out that no one was scheduled to greet us at the train station, so she took it upon herself to do so, but apparently we missed her at the station since it was super busy and we weren’t expecting anyone.
She led us up the street to our hotel. After we checked in, she sat us down at a table in the cafe and walked us through the plan for the next day at Machu Picchu, suggesting what we should take with us, how long we should expect to spend climbing Machu Picchu Mountain, and finally where and when to meet her. That’s when I realized that she was our guide for the next day. I had suspected she might be when she first picked us up, but when I asked Khivan, she thought this lady must work at the hotel. When Khiv suggested I tip her for all the info she provided, I confirmed that she was our guide for the next day, whom we’d already be paying a pretty penny for.
We went up to our room, took a shower, checked in with family, and went promptly to bed since we had a 445am start planned for the next day.
8 Trips in 8 Weeks 