From here we went on to Ollantaytambo which is halfway between Cusco and Machu Picchu (tambo means resting place) and was where we were staying that night. Ollantaytambo is Wilfredo’s home town. It is small and unspoilt and dominated by a huge, unfinished Inca Sun temple. Most of the inhabitants still live in original Inca dwellings. The beautiful mountain opposite the temple has the face of the harvest god carved into it as well as Inca granaries placed high up where the wind could keep the stored food cool. The massive stones of the sun temple were brought from seven kilometres away across the valley. The cultivation on the valley floor is laid out in a shape of a pyramid and Ollantaytambo itself has the shape of a llama. It was a bit of a challenge to climb up to the sun temple (lots of steps) but we all managed it and, afterwards, were entertained by some children from the mountain villages singing to us. We had a quick look around the market; stopping at the stall run by Wilfredo’s mother and buying a book about the Sacred Valley written by his brother.
We then went to Ollantaytambo lodge where we were staying and had a long talk from the guides about the whole of the trek which was really a bit too much for tired brains to take in. It began to thunder and we had some heavy rain that evening but most of us ventured out to eat in one of the many little restaurants in the town.
Tomorrow we were to start the Inca Trail proper and before bed we had to sort out our ‘essentials’ for the trek because we could only take eight kilos with us. We were all given a special bag to pack this in which the porters on the trek would carry for us! These bags had to be weighed and many of us were over the eight kilos and had to think (and pack) again.
