Next stop - Ollantaytambo

On the morning of June 3rd, we left our temporary hotel home and headed up the sacred valley. This was an interesting ride starting off with our driver being 45 minutes late, and then stopping every 30 minutes or so for him to talk to someone on his cell phone. At least at several of the stops, the views were breathtaking, so it worked out for the best.

  Our next two days were spent in  the small town of Ollantaytambo. We stayed at the Hostal Iskay, which was a nice, no frills place built right into the side of the hill, using walls left by the Incas.





















 One of the coolest parts of this town was the first chance to see the Incan aqueduct system in action. They basically siphon off parts of the rivers and divert them in a fast flowing gutter (2ft wide by 2ft deep) system all throughout the town next to the walkways. We wondered on the use(s) of the water, assuming that it was pumped into the various 'home' cubicles built within the stone walls, but we also saw one woman washing her clothes out on the pathway, so it appears that it is used for whatever is needed.
 
This is a very small town with a main square, a train station and a variety of hostels, shops and restaurants.  You can tell that many of the shops cater to your typical backpacker crowd, with all sorts of organic, 'all-natural' labeling.
  
We enjoyed some very interesting Peruvian versions of American food. N had a grilled peanut butter and banana and A had a grilled cheese and apples our first lunch at a cute hole in the wall called La Esquina. After our 'hike' (to be detailed and explained in the next blog entry) we came back to Peruvian pizza at II Piccolo Forno, made with typical South American queso that doesn't melt well - it was really odd, but we were so hungry, it didn't matter at all. They did have some amazing short bread cookies (we had cinnamon and cloves, and oat and lemon) which we also promptly devoured.

One thing I have to mention is that Peru has a fantastic dark beer called Cusqueña Negra - I had my first one here in Ollantaytambo and subsequently took advantage on many occasions, knowing there would be no such dark beer when we get to Ecuador. I will have to scope out any potential suppliers back in the USA, yes, it was that good :)