Ollantaytambo

Tuesday, February 21.

We awoke in this Incan village containing some of the oldest continually-occupied homes in the Americas.  The constant rain the previous night had us worried that we may not be able to tour two sets of ruins planned for the day, but we were fortunate when, right after breakfast, the rain stopped.

We started with a 350-foot climb to the Pinkuylluna ruins, 3 curious-looking long buildings we had seen on the mountainside from our hostel.  Afterwards we got a look inside one of the village’s ancient homes, whose interior (replete with guinea pigs and unexpected decorations on the walls) was typical of rural Andean homes both today and more than 500 years ago.

Then we crossed to the other side of town to spend more time at the main Ollantaytambo ruins, the second most important site of the Incan Empire.  After lunch we hopped a train to Aguas Calientes, the launching point for visits to Machu Picchu.