We had a great first full day in Ollantaytambo! It seems like the fact that we are staying here for a whole week lends a certain amount of tranquility to the trip, and today, for the most part, felt both fun and relaxing.
I woke up pretty early to the sun streaming through the curtains of our huge windows. Even though I was tired, it was so beautiful that I still felt grateful for it. I read for a while while Zaylia slept. When the sun started to wake her up, she hid under the blankets and slept for another hour.
I learned my lesson in Cusco and made sure to wake Zaylia up in time for us to get breakfast. We went down to the dining room where the owner and another woman were preparing breakfast for all the guests. We were each given a bowl of fresh fruit and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice, and were asked how we liked our eggs. Feeling extra fancy, we snacked on our fruit and watched the hotel’s cat (which I learned is a girl) as she wandered around the dining room nibbling up dropped scraps. At one point she jumped onto the chair of a recently vacated table and put her paws on the table top. She stayed like that for a while, using her paw to pull table scraps closer to herself to eat. Soon, we were brought eggs (Zaylia got fried and I got scrambled) and a plate with cheese and fresh avocado. We combined the new goodies with the bread already set out on the table to make avocado toast topped with eggs. While we were eating, the cat came and jumped onto the back half of Zaylia’s chair (as Zaylia was sitting on the front edge) and made her way around the side of Zaylia’s chair, so they were sitting side-by-side. She leaned close to sniff at Zaylia’s food, and Zaylia pushed the plate back slightly. Then the cat leaned forward even more, and started licking the yolk of Zaylia’s egg! Zaylia and I dissolved into gales of laughter as I moved the plate, and the hotel owner picked up the cat and, gently admonishing her, set her outside. She even left a little plate of avocado outside for the cat so she wouldn’t come back in. Zaylia and I left breakfast in wonderful moods, chuckling about the adorably audacious cat.
Back in our room, we decided to do a load of sink laundry. We agreed to do it together, and we ended up with a really pleasant system where we would read for a bit while the laundry soaked, then take a break to agitate the laundry together, and repeat! When the laundry was done, I did the final rinse then threw the wrung out clothes to Zaylia to lay them out on a towel for the final “spin cycle” (where we roll everything up in a towel and wring out the last bits of moisture). Throughout the morning, we watched people working in a field on the other side of the street through our room’s huge windows. They were harvesting some sort of white flower from the tops of a stalk-like plant. Whenever Zaylia or I would happen to look outside and see their progress, we’d call the other one over excitedly to check it out. When our laundry was all hung to dry, we read some more. I eventually fell asleep for a few minutes.
In the early afternoon we ventured out to go for a walk. Right near our hotel is a trail with ruins that we wanted to check out. We entered the path under a stand-alone stone doorway that looked so casual that we didn’t realize it was actually a ruin! I later learned (I.e., I just googled) that it was the main entrance to Ollantaytambo during the time that the Incas lived here, sometime in the 1500’s.
The walk along the path was extremely lovely. The weather felt like a perfect Alaskan summer day: hot in the sun and chilly in the shade. The mountains rose tall on either side of the valley, and as we walked along the path we were treated to an unencumbered view of the mountains continuing far into the distance. Parallel to the path, but lower down in the valley, were many fields of crops. On the other side of the crops ran the main road.
After about 15 minutes of walking, the path angled down toward the road and ended where they joined. At this juncture we were met with a huge scene of ruins, this one unmistakable in its grandeur. Stacked stone walls stretched high above us. The path split, and the lower branch led to a wall built of cleverly pieced together boulders with a huge doorway built into it (although the doorway was shallow and didn’t lead anywhere), while the upper branch led to the hill formed atop the door structure. The upper branch continued to lead over the small hillock and back down toward the road.
We meandered all over the region of ruins, marveling at the different structures and guessing at their purpose. As we rounded the bend coming down from the hillock we were startled to see a cow had been picketed in the grass next to it, and was grazing quietly.
We were feeling pretty silly by the time we were exploring the doorway, and played in it for a few minutes, assigning uses for the different parts of the doorway (e.g., this is where we keep our spiderwebs, here is where we keep our rocks, this is the kitchen, etc.).
After exploring the area, we headed back to town. The walk back was even more marvelous because we got a completely different view as we headed the opposite direction down the valley. The mountains in this direction were more staggering and impressive, and the town of Ollantaytambo lay out on the edge of a drop off, looking majestic in the midday light.
After re-entering town through the old Incan gateway, we turned down a completely different road and headed into town from a new direction. It felt exciting to be wandering a new way, and as we walked we spied stone foot paths that we followed to eventually lead us back into town. They blended in with their surroundings in such a way that it felt like we were discovering secret and magical pathways.
We ambled through town toward the main square, stopping to admire the neat stone irrigation channels running down every street. They are built with such care and precision that it feels like a beautiful fountain that winds its way throughout the whole city. Occasionally a small waterfall would exist where a higher channel met with a lower one, and stone benches were constructed directly over the channels in some places. The whole system was so orderly as to feel extremely elegant.
Once in the main square we began making our way around the outermost sidewalk, examining the menus on display in front of the dense row of restaurants. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but I ended up hitting my limit for both hunger and decision-making at the same time, and became immobilized with indecision. Zaylia was super sweet and loving. She put on her calming-a-scared-horse voice and coaxed me into going to the last restaurant we looked at.
We sat at an outdoor table, both sitting on the innermost bench so we could face outward and watch the goings-on in the square. This restaurant was on the opposite side of the square as our restaurant from yesterday, giving us a glorious view of the opposite mountains (the ones that the town is built into the base of). As we gazed at the glorious view, we spotted huge ruins clinging to the steep mountain side, and switchback paths leading up to them, directly from town. We discussed it and decided to hike to a different set of ruins every day!
As we sat there, we heard the loud bugle of someone blowing into a conch shell. Then, out from a side road trotted a llama parade! A line of people dressed in brightly colored ponchos and hats walked their way to the square, each one leading a llama. The man at the front continued to blow his conch shell with one hand while leading his llama with the other, and thus the entire procession made their way in a loop around the square, finally settling for a while in the center (I’m assuming to take pictures with tourists).
Amused and gleeful at being treated to an impromptu llama parade (a first for both of us), we put in our order for food. Zaylia surreptitiously figured out my favorite juice on the menu (passion fruit), then ordered one for me. She got a lemonade, which came with some kind of zesty foam similar to that of my pisco sour yesterday. The drinks were extremely fancy, served in big wooden goblets and each garnished with a lime and a flower. To eat, Zaylia ordered tamales and I ordered ceviche. When the food came out, the dishes were all carved stone, heavy and substantial. The stone bowl that my ceviche came in was carved in the shape of a fish. The ceviche itself was incredibly fresh and delicious. Zaylia’s tamales came with three dipping sauces in smaller stone bowls. The sauces were ketchup, mayonnaise, and aji amarillo. The other sauces were completely neglected in favor of the aji amarillo, and Zaylia even went into the restaurant to ask for a refill of it, by herself, in Spanish, which I was very proud of her for.
After our happy feast, we started to make our way home. We walked by a warehouse-type building full of vendors selling produce. We went to one stand and bought two different types each of mango and dragon fruit, as well as a container of blueberries and a bag of some mystery fruit that looked like little plums.
We stopped by one last store on our way back to the hotel and got some treats. As we were checking out shop owner gave Zaylia and me some free lemon candies, just to be nice.
As we made our way to the hotel, we rounded a corner a saw a baby goat standing at the end of a dirt driveway, bleating adorably. We stopped to watch him, and he looked around in what I thought was a confused manner, then bleated again. Then he apparently decided that he wasn’t lost after all, and turned around to head back up the driveway. Laughing at the silly little guy, we continued on.
Back at our hotel we mounted the stairs to our tippy top room, and proceeded to have a feast of our fun new produce and our fun new treats, and watch a few episodes of Friends.
We ended the night with a massive reading party. Zaylia and I each have books on our respective kindles that we wanted the other person to read, so we made a kindle swap and have started reading each other’s recommendations. It’s fun, because we can talk about the books as we go. Zaylia is exasperated with my kindle though, since hers is much nicer. I, on the other hand, am feeling pretty fancy with hers. 🙃
