Today, we go to Ollantaytambo. Yes, that is the name of that place.
The main tenets of our taxi driver are rather basic.
We pass by local villages...
...and notice that, just as in the rich district of Arequipa, all houses are completely sealed to the outside.
There is hardly a house that has windows without grids on the first floor.
Welcome to Ollantaytambo. I come to believe that people wear traditional clothes not just for the tourists.
Our hotel is right at the river.
City Center
Ollanta is the last town in Peru that is still in roughly the same shape as in Inka times.
The houses are arranged like a check board.
The houses are built on the Inka foundations (bottom stones). The canalization system (bottom right) is fed with fresh water from the mountains.
Note how the walls are dense, even though they are made of stones of irregular shapes.
In general, time seems to have stopped.
Today, the town lives mainly on tourism.
Ruins
Ollanta was founded to control the convergence of three valleys. On the right is the sacred valley of the Urubamba river, which leads from Cusco to Machu Picchu.
The Inkas built their warehouses on the mountain so that the wind would dry the wheat.
The ruins offer spectacular views on the valley.
These terraces were built for agriculture. The buildings on top of the mountain also had religious purposes.
The sun would pass the nose of this face exactly at the solstice, marking the beginning of the new year.
The stones were fitted perfectly to make the walls.
Our guide insists a lot on these walls. No wonder, as this is the main achievement of the Inkas here. They had neither iron, ...
...nor writing, nor money. They did not even have the wheel.
There were no sheep, no cows, no horses. Only lamas.
Follow us to Machu Picchu!
