The road into Ollantaytambo

11-Jan-2003 - We got up, had breakfast, and headed out to the ruins. The ruins of Ollantaytambo were considered by the Spanish to be a fortress, but there is some speculation that it was actually a temple. Regardless, it was one of the few places where the Incas handed the Spanish a defeat. And I can see why; it is up a very high hillside and it seems to be an ideal location to defend from. We went to the top of the ruins and worked our way downward.

After that, we went into the village itself and got some food. One interesting thing that I have noticed about the village is how while it has many of the trappings of a tourist town, like signs in English, there relatively wern't that many tourists around. And more thankfully, there wern't nearly as many pushy street vendors, like the ones that infest Cusco.

Ollantaytambo and the ruins

After lunch, we got our packs and got a bus ride to Urubamba, in order to catch another bus to Cusco. On the bus, a weird guy sat down next to us. First, he gave his name (Pancho) then started out trying to sell me books, which had me wary given some of the pushy people I have encountered here. Then he started doing very nutty things like trying to swap watches and his half empty soda for my water, and was muttering something in Spanish that I could not decipher regarding race relations in the USA. Weird.

We spent some time walking around Urubamba, but didn't find much of interest so we went to get our bus back to Cusco. The trip was uneventful, and once in Cusco, we went back to the same hotel that we stayed at earlier (the good one, of course). Interestingly enough, we got the same room that we stayed at earlier.

We soon needed to get some money and food. We went up to the Avenue del Sol and got to an ATM. Interestingly, the ATM printed a receipt but it was blank. Or maybe invisible ink? After that, we went up to the Plaza de Armas, and went into INDECOPI to find out about our complaint regarding our first night in Cusco. They verified that the same guy owned both the hotel that we were promised and the one that we were taken to, and they offered to refund us 25 soles. They also contacted the agent in Puno who basically admitted what happened but tried to whitewash the issue. The most satisfying part of it all was that we found out that the hotel was never compensated but got stuck refunding us. So they were down 25 soles and three hotel keys. All I can say is "Ha, ha".

To get some food, we crossed the Plaza where there is a whole row of restaurants. I said to Pradip, "We should choose a restaurant before we get decended upon by solicitors". Right then, a person came up to us holding a menu, then another one came, then another one came, all shoving their menus in our faces. To top it all off, a kid selling postcards, and a lady selling strips of cloth decided to join in the fray. Again, like flies on shit.

We ended up going to the Keros restaurant, which incidently was the first place that I looked at and the first one to solicit us. I had alpaca with this other stuff that was like cream of wheat except it used quinoa (an Andean grain that is supposedly much more nutritious than wheat). Pretty good stuff.

On our way out, someone attempted to solicit us with a promise to go to his restaurant the next day. I was just eager to go back to the hotel and get some sleep.

Pisac

12-Jan-2003 - Woke up, only to hear it raining heavily outside. Got moving and got some breakfast, after which the rain subsided, much to our relief. Our plan was to do a day trip to Pisac, which has a Sunday market and more ruins. We got a taxi to the bus terminal (one funny sight on the way was a restaurant called the "Restaurant Lex Luthor"). The bus ride itself was uneventful, but there were these two nine year old girls sitting there staring at us gringos. They would break off if we ever made eye contact, however.

We got to Pisac and started browsing the market. The market had two parts: a somewhat traditional farmer's market, and a kitchy souvenir market for tourists. In the souvenir part, the various vendors had much of the same pushiness that I've seen in Cusco itself. Eventually, we settled on buying from one particular vendor precisely because they wern't being excessively pushy. I bought a picture and an amusing chess set where the white pieces were Spaniards, and the black pieces were Incas.

We also got lunch at the market, we stopped at an empanadas place and we each had a couple empanadas. At the same time, a tour group from California came through and they got food as well. One of them, a lady identified as the brave one, ordered guinea pig and chowed it down to the horror of her compatriots. The scene reminded me of our cuy experience a few days before.

After lunch, we got a taxi to the top of the ruins. Similar to our plan at Saqsaywaman, we wanted to get a ride to the top of the ruins, and walk down, back to Pisac itself. When we saw the condition of people reaching the top, we decided that this was a good idea. The only catch was there were two landings at the top, and we got let off at the lower one. The upper one, which has another set of ruins, was about 100 meters up. We ended up hoofing it.

The hike itself was quite pleasent. The Pisac ruins are a set of fortifications built on the sides of cliffs, a temple, and some residential areas. The trails themselves were built by the Incas, which was quite impressive. At one point, there is a tunnel going through solid rock. Apparently, the Incas were able to find a fissure and enlarge it, creating the tunnel. As I walked along the trail and along the forifications, I wondered how any competant army that manned these positions could possibly get dislodged. The constructions themselves were easily the equal of anything one might see in Europe, but the locations would often be at the top of fifty foot cliffs. Apparently, the Incas abandoned Pisac during their flight from Cusco, to get a temporary victory at Ollantaytambo and get defeated again. Ollantaytambo did not look like an easy nut to crack, but it seemed like nothing compared to the Pisac fortifications.

As we got closer to Pisac itself on the hike, we did not get any lower. At one point, I found a place where I thought the trail went down but it just went into a muddy cliff. Continuing on past that, it was disturbing that we were not decending. At one view of Pisac, I was standing up and my head was at 12 o'clock and my feet were at 6, Pisac was at 7. We eventually got to a set of winding trails that allowed us to descend and enter Pisac itself. On the way, there was a local offering freshly squeezed orange juice. It really hit the spot.

Hiking down the ruins of Pisac

We got dinner at Pisac and a bus back to Cusco. From there, we got a taxi to the plaza to get our 25 soles refund at the INDECOPI office, closing that whole episode. After that, time for sleep.