While we hadn’t planned on spending more than a few days in one place, we are glad that we did as it gave us the opportunity to fully immerse ourselves in the culture and live as locals for a few weeks. Hey, we even got the local’s discount at the best restaurant in town (and I’m sure it had nothing to do with the fact that Ben is friends with the owner).
For those of you that have followed our blog, there is sort of a pattern that you may have picked up on by now; we’re not big planners and are more fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants travelers. We also like to do things for free. This mostly works out in our favor, or as Jim Vazquez would say, “mooostly.” Our favorite experiences so far have, for the most part, been by accident or a last minute opportunity that just happened to present itself. Case in point:
1. “So You Think You Can Dance?” Peruvian Style
While walking around one night, we saw a large crowd gathered in the Plaza and kids of all ages running around in traditional Peruvian costumes and so we decided it would be worth checking out. As it turned out, we had arrived in Ollantaytambo just in time for the annual school dance competition where each grade competes against one other with their own uniquely choreographed performance that paints a picture of a traditional Incan story.
Our co-worker at Apu Lodge, Pancha was at the competition and told us that this was just the warm-up; the real competition was the next morning and would be an all-day event. The next day we walked over to the schoolhouse, located at the edge of town to watch the kids from Ollantaytambo perform. While it was apparent that we were the only gringos there, nobody seemed to mind!
Pancha’s son, Jose Julian shows us his moves.
One of our favorite moments was when the bull, made up of two boys underneath a black sheet ran awkwardly after the bull-fighter as they tried not to trip over each others feet. Meanwhile, a local dog became quite curious about this bull and ran after him trying to nip at its tail. This caused quite a scene and was very comical to watch: dog chasing bull, bull chasing boy, boy running for his life.
UnBULLievably funny.
This little girl was all smiles during her grade’s performance.
2. Sweat Lodge, Regret Lodge
Another very unique experience that we had while Ollantaytambo was the opportunity to participate in a Sweat Lodge, a spiritual ceremony for some that took place in a dome-shaped structure covered with tarp and leaves that is located on the grounds of Apu Lodge. It was exactly as it sounds, a lodge where people sit and sweat for hours as the temperature rises with each hot stone that they place in the hole located in the very center. It’s similar to a sauna but a bit more enjoyable due to the fact that the ceremonial leader beats a drum and chants while encouraging everyone to sing along. It was quite strange at first but we got the hang of things and the weirder noises we made, the more less we thought about how hot it had become.
It was all fun and games until Ali drank the water. Since we are in fact in South America, most things are conducted in Spanish so someone did not get the memo that the cup of water being passed around, in the pitch black tent while everyone was singing and chanting was actually water for pouring on yourself and not for hydration purposes. As it turns out, the water was from the river aqueduct built by the Incans that runs through town. This particular river also happens to be where all of the sewage from the Sacred Valley runs into and is 100% guaranteed to make you sick as a dog as Ali found out at about 2 a.m. Two words: No Bueno.
3. Salineras and Moray and Chinchero, Oh My!
Our friend and co-worker, Ruth asked us for our help by having us go with her and the Ollantaytambo Tours group to take “professional” photos of the archaeological sites, as well as their fleet of vehicles and drivers to allow them to create an official website. The request could not have been more welcomed as we were hoping to visit at some point for our own travel experience. I guess you could say our “professional” photos sold for 160 soles, as this is the typical price for the tour of Salineras, Moray and Chinchero (all very worth the price!).
Our favorite, Salineras is a pre-Incan salt mine where their original processes are still used today. A 50kg bag of hand-refined and recovered salt sells for a salty 25 soles, or the equivalent of $9 USD! The image of the 350 salts pools was breathtaking and seemed to be from another world. We definitely recommend a visit if you’re ever in the Sacred Valley.
The views outside the Sacred Valley are unreal.
A salt mine worker carries a 50kg bag of salt ready to be sold.
Working at Salineras is not an easy job.
Ali catches Samir, Ruth’s son perfecting his “blue steel” during our stop at Chinchero.
Incan archeological terraces at Moray with Ruth and Samir.
Ben playing photo hunt.
4. Hike to Heaven, Decent from Hell
Our third to last day, we decided to hike Pinkuylluna Mountain with the goal to reach the flag placed at the very top, a flag that can only be seen from the Plaza square. How we were going to get up there was unclear, but we packed up our backpack with the essentials and were on our way. The views were incredible and only got better the higher we climbed, and the number of ruins we sighted at such a high altitude was astounding. Those Incans were pretty badass.
This should have been a good indication of what our hike would be like; scary!
The view of the flag from the plaza (you may need a magnifying glass).
Photo op!
Our view overlooking the Sacred Valley.
As we approached the top of the mountain, we were shocked to realize that the flag was still was light-years away (or so it seemed at the time), not to mention on a completely different rock formation. WARNING: If you are Ben or Ali’s mom, you won’t like the decisions made and we recommend that you skip to the bottom to avoid having heart failure! ; ) By this time, we had been hiking for over 2 hours and could now hear the flag flapping in the wind, making us more determined than ever to reach the top. But how? After about 20 minutes of contemplating our options, rock climbing was the only answer we could come up with besides giving up, and so we slowly (and carefully) climbed our way down one very steep and sharp rock formation and up another. Our muscles ached, our eyes were watery and faces burned, but the sense of accomplishment we felt as we reached the flag was well worth the exhaustion.
Ben climbing to the flag. Can you spot them both?
So close yet so far…
Ben paving the Rocky road to victory.
Victory is ours!
Taking in the view.
Time to rest…not!
To our surprise, there was one other person at the very top which was great because we really needed to find a safer way to get down as the rocks were basically climb or die. He was impressed at the way we came as it was “muy dificil” compared to the path that he took that lead you between two valleys and around the large rock formations. We figured easier and quicker was the way to go, or it would have been if we ever did find that path…
An hour and a half later, we were still fighting our way through large bushes and cacti while trying to stay upright on the mountains steep incline. At this point Ali was seriously regretting not buying new tennis shoes before the trek as she had little to no traction on her shoes, but thankfully Ben was a gentlemen and made sure she said safe (moooostly). The saddest part of all was we really didn’t get anywhere during that time; we could still hear that damn flag flapping in the wind, and sunset was only an hour away. We knew that if we did not make some serious moves we would be sleeping on the mountain, and our only viable option was to free climb directly up the rock formation back to where we had originally started. While Ben ranked it as an average M3 or M4 (for those of you who climb), instead of having a nice 8-inch bouldering pad below to break our fall, a slip of the hand or a lost footing had the real possibility of causing a serious fall down the rocky mountain. We moved quickly and worked together to find the quickest and safest (HA!) way to the top while we both did our best to make light of the situation and keep our increasing concern of our predicament to ourselves.
Recently recovered footage documents Ben’s (although the pony tail could be mistaken for Ali’s) ascent.
We made it a little past the halfway mark when the sun went down, and although hiking in the dark on loose rocks is not ideal, it gave us the most beautiful aerial view of Ollantaytambo at night that we’re sure not many tourists have experienced before. How do we know this you ask? Well, once we arrived to the bottom of the mountain, we realized that the gates had been closed and padlocked and barbed wire covered the only manageable gap between the gate and the top of the old Incan stone wall. The fact that we managed to, for the most part, safely make our decent down the mountain to only be trapped a mere 50 yds. from the warmth and comfort of our room was almost comical at this point. What made it worse however was watching everyone walk by freely while we stood trapped behind the gates just a few arm-lengths away. We figured we had spent a good portion of our day overcoming obstacles, what was one more? After consulting with Louise about our best method of escape, scaling the old Incan wall that offered very few hand holds, won out. Our obvious first stop after awkwardly climbing up and over (and lots of butt grabbing by Louise and Ben on Ali’s accord) was to pick up two very large Cusceñas, the local Peruvian beer. Thanks again Louise, for picking up our phone call and entertaining our elaborate escape plan, as well as the tasty and much-needed alphabet soup!
The entrance (and usually the exit) to Pinkuylluna Mountain.
Ollantaytambo is such a special place and we are really grateful for the the friends we’ve met, the Spanish we’ve learned (especially Ali) and the time we’ve spent exploring the ancient ruins and Sacred Valley of the Andes Mountains. But it’s time to move on to our next Peruvian adventure, so stay tuned!
greetings from blank 