Apr 07 2017– Urubamba and Ollyantambo (The Sacred Valley)
Last day all together before Sheena and Eileen head off to
the jungle.
Mandy and Paul opted for a restful day (opportunities have been few
and far between !),
Moto Taxis - Janette's new passion |
Be afraid, be very afraid....! |
Locals chewing the fat ! |
Sheena and Eileen before they were taken off to the jungle |
We avoided the meat counters as the smell was pretty overpowering and wandered through the melee of local life.
The local bus service departs when its full ...and we mean full ! |
Eileen decided that she would use her selfie stick to take a
picture of us all on the bus but to get it extended she had to take out the
locals in the seat in front. Much amusement as we tried to get a decent picture
without success !! The locals just sat
and stared at us………..we were like the light entertainment for the trip.
In Ollyantantambo the mountain goat duo (Sheena and Eileen)
headed for the archaeological site (which was as always up a very steep hill
with big steps – shame they have to worship the sun…).
Very pretty bars and shops around the square |
Steve decided the altitude at lower level was enough so we wandered round the town which is entirely Inca stone buildings and streets which is still lived in by the locals. One of the few occupied Inca towns remaining in Peru.
The locals walk around trying to pan handle tourists to take a picture of them for a few coins |
The original Inca town was used as "foundations" for more recent development.
Its the only Inca town in existance with all the original walls in tact even down to the water distribution gulleys which still provide fresh mountain water to the residents.
Turns out that this is an extremely pretty town and a relaxed feel with cute restaurants and shops.
Bearing in mind that the Incas were only around for 90 years, they sure built a lot of stuff. (Smallpox was thought to have larked the end of this civilization)
We came across a pottery and as the local pottery is renowned, we went in to have a look. The pottery wasn’t of much interest apart from the good luck symbols they have on the roofs of the houses in Peru. This consists of a cross (Catholic influence), two bulls (Spanish influence) and a corn sheaf ( Inca sun god offering influence).
Guinea pigs for eating...yum yum !! |
35 Peruvian Sol is about £9...chips extra ! |
The guinea pigs had so far been saved by Steve's altitude sickness which meant he had lost his appetite for almost a month otherwise we are sure he would have had one...
The four of us met up again in the square and decided to have an early dinner in Ollyantambo before going back to the school as we have an early start tomorrow. Bad move………it was Happy Hour, so Sheena and Eileen made full use of the two for one Pisco sours !!
The only option back to Urubamba was the collective bus
again, so we hopped aboard. As it was market day and getting late, the bus was
crammed with all sorts of local produce and the last two ladies got on board
with sheafs of green reeds for animal feed which ended up across the knees of
everyone in the front rows. It dropped
people off all along the way, and the ladies got off in the middle of nowhere
with their heavy loads in the pitch dark. Who knows how far they were going to
have to walk with all their goods for the week……..
In Urubamba we still needed to get a local taxi to get back
to the school which was a little out of town. We walked for a while with no
luck and by then we were all getting tired (the pisco sours were wearing
off….). Janette spotted a taxi parked outside a local restaurant, so we trooped
in, extracted the taxi driver from his dinner and talked him into taking us back……(we
made it worth his while, honest !!)
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