Sep 4 - Oct 9, 2016: Peru

Sep. 17, 2016.  Cuzco > Ollantaytambo.  Pakaritampu Hotel.

• Up at 6, breakfast at the Marriott (Len had persuaded them the night before that they should be providing their guests with free breakfasts every day of their stay, not just their first day), and off with a taxi to Ollantaytambo, about an hour (and $30) up and over a pass at 3600m, where we briefly stopped and admired the view of the valley and snow-capped peaks and of course llamas with colorfully dressed locals (fifty cents a photo?),  and down to El Valle Sagrado at Urubamba, then up the valley, narrow and flanked by steep mountains on both sides, to be deposited at this fine hotel - and still only around 10 in the morning.

• We had seen the Inca ruins of Ollantaytambo as we passed through the town in the taxi - huge, steep terraces that guard its ruins, one of the few places where the Spanish conquistadors lost a major battle.  The rebellious Manco Inca had retreated to this fortress after his defeat at Sacsaywaman.  In 1536, Hernando Pizarro, Francisco's younger half-brother, led a force of 70 cavalrymen to Ollantaytambo, supported by large numbers of indigenous and Spanish foot soldiers, in an attempt to capture Manco Inca.  The conquistadors, showered with arrows, spears and boulders from atop the steep terracing, were unable to climb the fortress.  In a brilliant move, Manco Inca flooded the plain below the fortress through previously prepared channels.  With the Spaniards' horses bogged down in the water, Pizarro ordered a hasty retreat, chased down by thousand of Manco Inca's victorious solders.  

• Yet the Inca victory would be short lived.  Spanish forces soon returned with a quadrupled cavalry force and Manco fled to his jungle stronghold in Vilcabamba.

• Some extremely well built walls were under construction at the time of the conquest and have never been completed.  The stone was quarried 6km away, high above the opposite bank of the Rio Urubamba.  Transporting the huge stone blocks to the site was a tremendous feat.  They carted the blocks to the riverside, then diverted the entire river channel around them.

• Len and I climbed up the terraces to the ruins, then across a narrow path and down some adjacent terraces.  Wonderful photo ops all along the way.  Returned to the main plaza and had a bite to eat and back to the hotel by noon, to meet Bruce and Che.  They were in great shape, having done some serious shopping and eating in Urubamba, but Che complained that the altitude was getting to her a bit.  They decided to go back to Urubamba for some more shopping (at a ceramics shop in particular), while I decided to hike up to the Pinkulluna Ruins, which turned out to be a bit of a slog, but well worth it: amazing buildings on steep slopes facing the Ollantaytambo ruins.  

• Back to the hotel, resting up now before dinner, which we've decided to take at a restaurant in the train station recommended by LP.

• Oboy, the train station restaurant turned out to be wonderful.  LP does it again.