More old ruins....
Trip Start
Sep 13, 2004
1
21
82
Trip End
May 06, 2005
Ollantaytambo and Pisaq,
Peru
Monday, November 1, 2004
We took the train from Aguas Calientes to Ollantaytambo, and I opted to spend a bit of time there and in Pisaq before returning to Cusco. I was fortunate enough to arrive at the ruins in Ollantaytambo at the same time as a big group and tagged on at the back. The temple was built opposite a mountain which stood on its own rather than in a range, something that marked it as sacred to the Incas. Food stores had been dug into the mountain where they could be surveyed from the temple. At the summer and winter solstices the first rays of sunshine appear just over the left and right of the mountain respectively, and at the spring and autumn ones over the peak
1 Ollantaytambo: ritual fountains
.The Incas had a lot of respect for their natural surroundings. The Sun (Inti), earth (Pachamama), the sky and the mountains were amongst their gods. Before building a temple the priests would have asked the permission of the mountain god and made offerings.
Not everyone was allowed in the temple complex, which was separated from the town by a small canal built by the Incas, the water channelled first via ritual fountains within the complex. Consequently, when the Spanish arrived they were told all sorts of fantastic stories about what went on in there. Inca priests used it as a place of worship and also as a place of scientific research into things like astrology and growing plants that would be stronger and give better harvests. There were terraces in the temple area and they also spread for miles up the sides of a valley and into the mountains. The Spanish made a lot of people work in the mines of Potosi (Bolivia) and other areas, and this was certain death, so many people from Ollantaytambo moved further and further upwards to escape, surviving by farming, and to this day live at heights of up to 4,200m, many of them now supplementing their incomes by being porters on the Inca trail.
2 Ollantaytambo
The temple itself wasn't finished when the Spanish defeated the Incas. This can be seen because some of the stones still haven't had the protrusions used to drag them up there smoothed off. Also, the 7th large stone is missing from the temple itself, but the base where it would have fitted is present. The stones for the temple were dragged from the other side of the valley, downhill, across the river in the dry season, and then up the other side, an incredible amount of effort given the technology available.
Next stop Pisaq. One of the first people I encountered was a policeman who asked me if I needed a lift to the ruins, and pointed at a car opposite. I assumed this to be a taxi from a reputable company, but it turned out to be his own car, and for 20 soles he would take me up to the ruins. Obviously a slow day for crime... I was dubious about the price and he assured me he wouldn't try to rip me off. Aha. As soon as I turned the corner I was offered trips for 15 soles by taxi drivers tripping over each other, and over lunch met a couple of guys to share with. Never trust the law.
I returned to Cusco to find that the hostal I was staying in had got the date I was returning wrong so had let my room. They had an almost identical one but now the owner wanted 5 soles extra a night for it. This is slightly less than 1 pound, but it's the principle of it, so I went elsewhere, and in a vindictive kind of way felt a little pleasure each time I went past and saw the room still empty.
