Ollantaytambo
STAY El Albergue
EAT Hearts Cafe
EXPLORE Archeological Park Ollantaytambo
FIND the figure of Tunupa in the rock face
Lying along the Patakancha River just beneath where it crosses the Wilkanuta river lies the old mysterious Incan town of Ollantaytambo. It contains some of the oldest continuously occupied dwellings in South America and acts as a staging ground for the Inca trail where you also catch the Peru Rail Expedition train to get to Aguas Calientes or Pueblo Machu Piccu. This Inca archeological site inhabited since the 15th century contains many relevant clues to how the Inca lived through the nearby sites of Temple Hill, Chinchero, Moray and the salt flats of Maras.
The Urubamba and Patakancha Rivers along Ollantaytambo are covered by an extensive set of terraces or andenes which start at the bottom of the valleys and climb up the surrounding hills. The terraces permitted farming on otherwise unusable terrain; they also allowed the Incas to take advantage of the different ecological zones created by variations in altitude some for corn and some for potatos. the Inca emperor Pachacuti first conquered and then further built Ollantaytambo making it his personal estate. He ordered the building of the extensive terracing and the lands were eventually tended to by his royal attendants. Whats is incredibly fascinating about the hillside terraces is that they all represent different shapes of the spirit animals of the Inca and corresponding to their advanced astrological charts. At the time of the Spanish conquest of Peru Ollantaytambo also served as a stronghold for the Inca resistance.
Although we entered the sacred valley through Pisaq we were struck by a deep mysticism and antique feel when entering the old town of Ollantaytambo.
The ancient water system runs through the town
At night it definitely felt haunted
The salt flats or salt-evaporation ponds of Maras used since Inca times have become somewhat of an instagram phenomenon, visited by tourists form all over the world due to their stunning appearance tucked in the Sacred Valley between Cuzco and its surrounding towns. Since Inca times salt has been obtained in Maras by evaporating salty water from a local subterranean stream. The highly salty water emerges at a spring, a natural outlet of the underground stream and then the structure of ponds acts as a funnel as the water trickles down the terraces until the the water becomes saturated with salt crystals.
The project is supervised by a co-op of locals and carefully monitored to insure that the water flows just right to allow for the proper irrigation, salt production and harvesting. Any local family can come and harvest the salt with proper consultation and participation and there are still many vacant ponds. It remains a spectacle and testament to the ingenious agricultural prowess of the Inca and there enduring terrestrial powers.
We traveled to the nearby slat flats of Maras at 3,000 metres high in the mountains.The movement of tectonic plates pushed the seabed up to form the Andes. The sea salt was locked into the rocks and filters out through the Qoripujio spring.
Large scale maize production in the Sacred Valley was apparently facilitated by varieties bred in Moray either a governmental crop laboratory or a seedling nursery of the Incas. The archaeological site of Moray looks like an alien monument off some kind as It consists of several terraced circular depressions, the largest of which is approximately 30 m (98 ft) deep.
The Inca crop laboratory of Moray
These are freeze dried potatoes called chuno. The sun and frost preserve the Incan staple food and preserve it for up to ten years.
Boarding the Peru Rail Expedition Train
Eating local corn that made us quite ill. HUGE kernals!
A causa - potatoes with avocado, vegetables and a delicious dressing.
FOOD FACTS: The Incas in Peru were the first to cultivate potatoes around 8,000 BC to 5,000 B.C. In 1536 Spanish Conquistadors conquered Peru, discovered the flavors of the potato, and carried them to Europe.