Hotel Pakaritampu Ollantaytambo

On Sunday we set off early in the morning with only small bags on a tour of the sacred valley of the Incas. We first of all climbed up in the bus to almost 4000m again before heading back down along a beautiful stream valley. We stopped at the side of the road for a good photo opportunity and then carried on down to a town called Pisac. The town centre was completely full of stalls of jewellery, fruit, vegetables, dyes and fabrics. We wandered round the huge market in the town for a bit and ...

Woke up at 5:30, had a scrumptious breakfast courtesy of Hotel Pakaritampu's Breakfast Buffet...much better than anything I've ever had in the states! Then walked 1/4 mile up the road to the Ollantaytambo train station to board the Vistadome train up to Aguas Calientes. When I noticed the train was not full, and realized this was a non-stop train, I asked the conductor if I could take the front row seat. Without hesitating, he said of course, and had a gentleman clean the window for me so I c...

Left my grandma's house at 5:00 AM to be at Lima airport at 5:30 for my 7:40 flight. At 7:30 they announced that our flight had been canceled ;-( Curses LAN, Curses!! They instructed us to go to gate #8 where they would be trying to get us all on alternate flights - in order of check in. Being that the printer at my grandmother's house was out of ink - I had not been able to do my on-line check in and had done so upon arriving at the airport - so I knew I was knew I was going to be there for ...

We traveled from Cuzco to the little pueblo of Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley today for two days of R and R before starting the Inka Trail. On the way from Cuzco we visited the Incan ruins of Pisac and Ollantaytambo, both great examples of Inca stone construction. The Sacred Valley has become yet another touristy place along what is generally referred to as the Gringo Trail, the loop Ben and I have now started and will continue for much of our remaining trip. While the first week and a ha...

We toured more of the Sacred Valley today. We visited the sites of Moray and Maras, both unique spots of which I havenīt seen the likes previously. Moray is a series of very deep, conical terraces developed by the Inkas centuries ago. The general hypothesis for their purpose is that the area served as some kind of agricultural testing ground, with different crops tested at different depths and temperatures. Of course, Ben and I thought they were really terrific conical terraces.... Maras is t...