Ollaytaytambo

As much as possible, I hope to capture here an accounting of my travels in Peru, for my own memories, but also to try to bring to life those who read my blog the sites, smells and feel, the energy of the places I visited.

After a 3-hour drive from La Crosse to Minneapolis, then a 3-hour flight to Atlanta, Georgia, to then catch a 6-hour flight to Peru, then a layover in Lima at the airport, snoozing in the chairs in order to catch the first intra-country flight to Cusco at 5:30 AM, only to arrive and then catch a rattle-trap taxi for an hour and a half drive out of the city, I arrived at the rural village of Ollaytaytambo. This is the final town you can access by road if you want to limit your train time to Aguas Caliente, which is the village at the foot of Machu Picchu. The last leg to Aguas Caliente/Machu Picchu can only be taken by train, or by foot via the Inca Trail. I'm glad we came and stayed a night in this town as it has a lot of character! It is still a functioning village and has not been taken over completely by the tourist trade.

I had previously made a reservation at a hostel, which was the only one I found on the Internet that I could reserve at a distance, and it succeeded in being much nicer on the net than in reality. But it too had it's charms. The first thing I noticed as I sat down in the wicker furniture in the inner courtyard of this hostel was the heat. I had left the frozen north and landed just south of the equator. Peru does not have seasons, like Spring/Summer/Fall/Winter but instead only Rainy Season/Dry Season. Currently, it is rainy season . . . but the rain did not spoil my trip much at all. As I sat in this inner courtyard, alive with many tropical flowering plants, my first bird arrived on stage. It was a hummingbird of some kind, and a female due to its lacking anything distinctive to tell what it was. I was able to catch her picture, but I still have no idea what species she is. I feel safe in assuming she is not a ruby-throat.

And now I challenge my readers to look at the picture above and identify the plant. Yes, you know what it is! It just does not look familiar, as large as it is, looming over the building. This is what these plants look like in their native environment, how they grow when the sunshine is warm and the days long. If you continue to be stumped, e-mail me, and I'll tell ya! (ladyhawker65@yahoo.com) Below, I took a picture of my first cup of Mate de Coca, of which I had several cups while in the area. Yes, it is tea made from the coca leaf, and a staple of the society. I noticed no ill effect or benefit either way. Supposedly it helps you adapt to the high altitude. I did suffer a bit of head discomfort my first day there, but that was probably from being very tired. The small little bread loaves made in brick ovens was to die for!

There were many signs that the Christmas holiday was still being clung to, the population of the area being Catholic. In fact, I was surprised to find out that I arrived during a minor festival. January 6 is Fiesta de Reyes. This celebrates the date the wise men came to visit the baby Jesus. The townspeople were dressed in their finest outfits, with frequent processions down the streets where they paraded the icons from the church of their saints and the Blessed Mother. The evening was filled with people making merry, grilling out some unknown meats in open pans (which smelled really good), and serving what I would later learn was called Chicha, a very mildly alcoholic beverage made from fermenting corn.

They gathered in the town square to listen to people telling stories. Certain groups of masked men went about the town swinging soft bags, randomly assaulting the young men of the village that were not masked. It seemed an ancient ritualized battle, which was all in fun as it elicited laughs from everyone involved. The townsfolk stayed up late in the night, in the streets, drinking and making merry.

Prior to my leaving the following day I saw all these costumed people gathered in their very quaint church, the local priest saying a Mass. I stepped into the church for a moment and listened and observed. It was a very colorful assembly. I would have liked to have taken a picture, but felt it would have been considered impolite, so left them to finish their holy ceremony.

In the evening I had yet another cup of coca tea and listened to a traveling Peruvian guitar and pipe 'band' as they visited some of the restaurants, trying to sell some of their CDs. A strange mix of modern and historic.

In the mountains that surround this village are the ruined remains of the original Ollaytaytambo. The step structure is common in Inca architecture, as they made steep cliffs tillable for crops. Walls and buildings form lookouts to guard the city, and high advantage places to defend it.

Below, we were told this was a grain storage structure. It was mind-boggling to imagine building it on the steep slope, let alone hauling grain up into it!

Here I saw my first Inca signature structures, those doors and windows set at an angle, which I read reduced their likelihood of collapse in earthquakes, which are common in this area.

Sometimes, the ancient walls, with their lichen stains, and contrasting living grasses, with the breathtaking mountains behind them, make for very dramatic photography! Don't you agree?

Most of the houses, being made of mud brick with ceramic tiles for the roof, had a most unusual attachment to the top. I had to ask what these were. They are called "Dos Torros", or the two bulls, and it is a good luck charm attached on the roof of a house or structure at the completion of its being built. Also, I was told the owner of the house cannot supply this adornment, but it must instead be gifted by a friend. This is just another sign of the connectivity of village life. You should best make friends first before you build your house to make sure you get the proper blessing.

Another little house that I found in one of the local restaurants was the home for the guinea pigs that would find themselves eventually on the plates, most likely, of tourists. The meal is called "cuy" and eventually I did try it, though not while in Ollayville.

When you build in rock . . . things last for a long time! Especially if you build in BIG rocks!

The town sits in a valley with a river running through it. Along the river it is lush, with many crops, primarily corn. The high mountains surrounding the valley are green with desert-like plants, some cactus, dry grasses. Andean wrens are more often heard than seen. The song of the very common Rufous-Collared Sparrow is heard as much as the bird is seen.

It's a really nice village! I highly recommend anyone visiting the area to leave Cuzco and come to stay a night in Ollayville!