Ollanta - My home in the Sacred Valley

  Ollantaytambo, Sacred Valley, Peru
Monday, June 16, 2008

biking outside Ollanta

So after a fun filled weekend in Cusco, I headed to Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley on June 9; this is planned to be my home for June & July. Ollanta (the locals abbreviation) is the best preserved Inca town in Peru (& yes that info is straight from your handy guidebooks).

main street in town of Ollanta

Here, there are not only ruins to visit as in many other places in Peru, but many people also live in homes that are in part actually from Inca times. In addition to this history, it is amazingly beautiful and quaint -- located in the Sacred Valley area that is also home to Machu Picchu, between steep mountain peaks and along the Urubamba River. [Please note, I have not actually taken any photos of the Inca part of town yet as I have been mostly distracted by the natural beauty here; you can be assured more photos will be forthcoming.]

hiking outside Ollanta

I am staying with a family here in Ollanta, which was arranged through the museum I am volunteering with. They are great! Mom is Ana Maria, children are Goya, Margarita, Katia & Abraghn. In addition, the culture makes it such that there is usually at least one other amigo or amiga at lunch or dinner, so it is a livey home.

my family in the kitchen in Ollanta

Their English is pretty limited & my Spanish is improving, yet modest, so we have fun with the Spanish English dictionary & lots of hand gestures!

me & Ahbragn in the kitchen in Ollanta

They have land near there home where they grow & harvest flowers for sale; in addition to whatever some food grown for the animals -- which includes 3 dogs, 1 2 week old puppy, 2 cats, maybe 15 chickens & loads of cuy (guinea pigs) in the kitchen -- & to use for cooking. I have my own room, which has three beds, that I use for all my belongings in proper American excess. There is another volunteer across my hall & the family rooms are upstairs. The kitchen & dining room are in a separate building.

my house in Ollanta, rooms on left, dining in back

So back to the beauty and quaintness -- it is worthwhile to note that this is a village; you could say it is a bit small & rural (at least for this city girl). Town has a few thousand people and perhaps also that many street dogs (okay maybe not as many dogs as people, but close). It is a tourist town for the ruins and Inca history and a stop along the way to Machu Picchu, so there are lots of westerners & tourists around, but most tourists do not spend the night here - or probably at most a day or two. So my time here has an interesting mix of tourists and local experiences.

hiking outside Ollanta

A sampling of some Ollanta daily experiences (largely related to animals & food) include:

* hanging out in the main square at 6:30 am to meet other volunteers for an early hike, casually passed by a man carrying a slaughtered calf on a stick, apparently freshly killed, to market presumably to carve up and sell in the outdoor market with all the other very fresh meat
*my family had probably two dozen cuy living on the dirt floor in the kitchen when I arrived, I swear it is now three dozen. They eat miscellaneous food that gets dropped by accident - or on purpose for them. They are for us to eat on special occasions and/or when they are grown enough to provide flavorful meat (which is apparently after they are a year old mas o menos)
*crazy noise walking down the street the other day was from a small pig in a bag that a woman was carrying -- (obviously, you know the old pig in a bag outing); the noise seemed to suggest that the pig was not happy about this adventure or what it may indicate about its future
*driving to Patacancha village (more notes below about this) we were stalled by toros (bulls) playing or fighting in the middle of the road. Despite best efforts, the young boy minding them & īcontrollingī them with a stick wasnīt really in control of the situation.

The beauty of the mountains is really overwhelming for someone who is not around this type of beauty daily.

hiking outside Ollanta

There are amazing trails for hiking, biking, walking your cows, etc. Apologies for the many nature pictures from binking & hiking, it is awe-inspiring in every direction so the camera gets pulled out a lot.

that is how I feel about biking up the Andes

As you can imagine, the stars are amazing (almost every day and night is clear). Perhaps the coolest has been the last couple nights with a full moon and a clear sky I have walked home following my shadow -- from the moonlight! I wish I could capture that on a picture! With the outline of the moutains on either side of the valley & the glow of the white, snow-capped peaks in the distance illuminated by the moon.

So about work (oh yeah, Iīm volunteering here right?), I am volunteering with the textile project of the local museum called CATCCO Museo. The textile project buys traditional hand-made weavings from women in more rural villages, which do not see much tourist traffic, and sells the weavings in a non-profit store in Ollanta. I am simply working in the store a few days a week (brings back the good old days when I worked at Gap Kids in the Mall of America -- totally the same) and also cleaning up/trying to improve some of their accounting/spreadsheets. I guess even on vacation I canīt get away from the joys of excel spreadsheets!

One of my first days here, we went to Patacancha, maybe a little more than an hour up (prob 12,500 feet) from Ollanta. It is a village of 250 - 300 families, with a strong weaving tradition amongst the women.

doing something important with yarn at Patacancha

We were a part of a day-long natural dyes workshop where we (the museum has a local natural dyes expert) & the women were sharing knowledge about natural dyes. We started by getting the yarn (wool and alpaca) into bundles to be dyed, then boiled water & added the dying items -- flowers, plants, ground up dried beetles, etc -- and the yarn.

Patacancha yarn dying

Cooked it a bit, added ground up minerals that would make the dyes adhere permanently to the yarn, pulled it out & ta da -- Colored dye! It was pretty cool & clearly an experience that not many folks get to be a part of -- hence lots of photos.

Patacancha yarn dying

Back to food & camping (ongoing themes), of course the woman wanted to thank us for our help, so we were treated to a big lunch of cuy & boiled potatoes (we had brought sandwiches, but one must not turn this down). I must say, this cuy was actually more flavorful than what I had at the Cusco restaurant, but it is still not jumping to the top of the list for my favorite dishes. I do think it is the flavor that isnīt for me, but the visual is a little tough to dismiss as well -- I had been in the house before (one room of course with dirt floors & lots of cuy that live there on the floor) when the women were pulling the fur off the little guys & getting them on the stick to put over the fire to grill. Delicious!

On the camping front, I could have been placed here to volunteer in the school to teach basic computer skills -- the school got 14 brandnew computers donated recently. God bless Lizzie, who is in fact in this volunteer placement. Her family is great she said because they didnīt have a bathroom when she arrived so they were really sweet & dug her a hole out back. Yeah, I think I will hang out in my big city of Ollanta with the one fine internet business where I am now & pigs in bags!

smiley little one in Patacancha!

So I hope at least some of you made it through this whole entry -- & hopefully with some enjoyment. Sorry so long but obviously a bit of my own travel journal as well!!

Love & Miss -
KG