Ollantaytambo - The Gateway to an Inca-redible Journey!

Today, we made our way to the historical and sacred location of Ollanataytambo. This was to be the start of our brief but in depth encounter with Incan history. Everyone was pretty excited as it meant the beginning of the inca trail was just around the corner. A mix of nerves, curiosity and enthusiasm had been circling the group for a while now, and everyone was keen to get started after having our brief from Carlos in Cusco. On the way, we stopped off so we could get a first glimpse of the sacred river, and got a feel for the landscape of the area.

Tom laughing at Henry saying "this right here is a PPP... Potential Profile Picture"

Top row: Bossana, Andres, Melisa, Steph, Tom, Susan, Andrew, Maryanne, Thomas, Ryan
Bottom row: Irena, Elanna, Melissa, Elana, Kate

Enroute to Ollantaytambo we visited a planterra weaving project. This is something that our tour company ‘G adventures’ has helped to set up and fund, as their ongoing duty of care to the local communities they run tours through. This is to ensure tourism creates a sustainable source of income and well being for the local people and in return, creates a unique experience for tourists such as ourselves that are keen to learn about different cultures. This is not confined to just the areas we have visited, ‘G adventures’ actually fund these planterra projects all across the world and our very own Melisa B had actually previously visited a planeterra school project in South East Asia. You can find some more information about these projects...here.

The particular project we were visiting was a textile and weaving cooperative formed of local Peruvian women. Here we saw an array of brightly coloured woven textiles, typical to this part of the world. There was a large square area with many stalls side by side around it. Each stall was owned by a separate lady from the planeterra cooperative, and the range of knitted textiles they had all produced was amazing. 

There was also a small pen which contained llamas and alpaca, and it was here that our small tour of the project started. 

We were shown all the different processes involved in making the textiles, from collecting the wool, to the cleaning of it, then the different natural elements they use to dye the wool different colours, and finally how they weave it all together to produce the amazing patterns and range of garments. This was fascinating and actually pretty mind blowing how they manage to produce such intricate patterns with such accuracy using just their imagination and eyesight. 

dyeing process

These prickly pear parasites are crushed to create a purple dye

We all had a wander around the stalls with our new found appreciation for the craft. The majority of us ended up buying some souvenirs and everyone was melting over the many tiny cute babies also at the stalls with their mums, especially Steph. 

The next stop would be another planeterra foundation. This one was a restaurant where they served Peruvian food with a gourmet twist. All the ingredients were grown locally or on site, which provided jobs and income for local people. We turned up to a pretty, large walled garden filled with baby alpacas! There was a big building which was the restaurant with a large glass wall looking out onto the garden.  Our whole group sat down on a long table and we eagerly anticipated the food. Carlos told us about how the foundation worked and told us to be excited about what we were about to eat. There were some freshly made, warm bread put on the table. There was a strange green butter that accompanied the varying flavoured breads. The green butter was made from local herbs and was so delicious. We both ate about four, which would prove to be a mistake, as they were about six more incredible courses to go.  This was followed by a classic quinoa soup, but there was salsa served too so we could add  in some spice.

The next course, were some very Heston Blumenthal looking starters. Were still not sure what these were, but they were really tasty. There was rice and fish finished with salsa. Served with this was a cous cous looking substance, wrapped in a leaf. We unfolded the leaves and ate the mysterious food to find it actually was very sweet, and tasted like cake sponge. We were on a bit of sensory journey as we had no idea what we were eating but everything was delicious.

The next main course was quinoa, which we had become very used to eating in soups. This was prepared in an almost Chinese style, and was crispy and incredibly more-ish. This was served with roast potatoes and a stuffed pepper covered with pastry.

Finally, we were given a milky dessert served with a fresh strawberry coulis and a baked fruit tart, and of course, a customary coco tea to help ease digestion.

 We were absolutely stuffed after this culinary delight, and thanked all the people who made it so delicious. We left without having to pay a penny as it was all included in our tour! The next stop would be Ollantaytambo, but on the way we would stop at Pisaq, a incan site similar to Ollantaytambo but on a smaller scale. We got to the top of the site and Carlos showed us the old tombs and we saw our first glance of the tiered levels the incans are so well known for. 

We arrived into Ollantaytambo in the late afternoon and dropped off our bags. Carlos wanted to press on and show us the incan sites just down the road. We were faced with a huge wall of tiered levels that Carlos wanted us to climb. With the inca trail starting the next day we knew we had to start training eventually. We puffed our way to the top and looked over the village of Ollantaytambo, nestled neatly in a valley. 

Carlos told us to study the cliff we were facing. He pointed out a structure which was  a good hike up the cliff. Initially, these looked like defensive outposts however it was in fact a granary. The reason for it being placed so high up on a mountain edge is that it is naturally cool so acted as natural ventilation like a massive fridge. This enabled them to keep their crops and annual harvest fresher for longer, so if there was ever a shortage or a bad crop, then they would have backup stores to feed the whole community. This goes to show what advanced farmers the inca’s were and how well they manipulated the land around them to get the best out of it.  He then told us to use our imaginations and look to the left and try and see the face. All at once, we gasped as we saw the outline of a grumpy looking rock face. 

Carlos explained that the granary was placed there on purpose to make it look as if it was the yield on the back of a disgruntled porter. He then told us too look even further up the cliff to spot another face. This had been carved and was impossibly high up. This face was  meant to be an incan kings face and it was on a jaunty angle to the cliff, and Carlos told us that this was because it was the first part of cliff that the sun would hit at sunrise. Not only this, but it also coincided with the positioning of some star constellations that the Incas regarded as highly important. He also said that from the opposing cliffs, the site we were actually sitting on, is shaped like a llama cradling a baby llama, a sacred animal within the culture.

Incan king rock face

 We were blown away by the complexities and underlying purposes for the way everything is laid out, positioned, and the many layers of reasoning behind every aspect of the settlement. This gave us our first real insight into how clever the Incas were, and it whet our appetite to see Macchu Picchu even more. Carlos left us to explore the rest of the site by ourselves and we had a good walk around with Susan and Melisa. 

Afterwards, we had a look around the market place to be tempted with goodies once again. We had to restrain, as anything we bought would have to be taken on the Inca trail, and we wanted to keep the load light. There was also another cocoa museum, so we went in once again for a chocolate ice coffee.

That night was our last meal together for the next four days. We went to a restaurant and had burritos, kebabs and more pisco sours.  We clinked glasses and wished each other luck for the next few days. Susan and Andrew for the Lares trek, and to Henry who would have to entertain Irena and Elanna in Cusco, as they decided not to do the trek. We finished up dinner, and went to bed early, for the incredibly daunting and exciting test that would begin the next day.