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Latm-Blog travel by coincidence

OLLANTAYTAMBO No. 1 - The Beautiful

Published on Pascal & Anja Tags: PeruUrubambaOllantaytamboRuinen

One of the ruins of Ollantaytambo, which is the largest and most impressive.
One of the ruins of Ollantaytambo, this being the largest and most impressive.

Accommodation

We found our accommodation locally. We paid 130 Soles for the two nights. No breakfast was included.

Sightseeing

  • Plaza de Armas (here we ate our bakery breakfast)
  • Mercado San Pedro / Mercado Virgen Asunta (here we bought fruits and various homemade drinks)
  • Mercado Turístico
  • Tienda Awamaki (offer trips around the area and Fair Trade goods)
  • Plaza Araccama
  • Ruins / Parque Arquelógico de Ollantaytambo
  • Templo del Sol
  • Inka Watana
  • Templo del Água
  • Templo del Condor
  • Inka Misana
  • Cantera de Piedra The great mystery of how the Incas were able to work and place the stones so precisely.

On our second visit we saw even more. See "OLLANTAYTAMBO No. 2" for that.

Transportation

Everything was within walking distance in town.

Food and drink

For meals, we chose

  • Nachos with Guacamole
  • Borritos with Nachos
  • Arroz a la Cubana
  • Family-size Pizza (which was way too small for the three of us) We also tried Pisco Sour, Perú Libre, Chilcano de Pisco, and beer. The price was 25 Soles for three drinks or 15 Soles for two beers. It was delicious!

Every morning we bought our breakfast at the "Panadería Valle Tumi".

Anja goes to the bakery to buy pastries.

Cafes and Restaurants

  • Inti Grill - Pizzas Parillas
  • Inka's Tower
  • Pizza restaurant at the main square (unfortunately forgot the name)
  • Panadería Valle Tumi

Plants and Animals

In Olla, we saw some plants of the "Austrocylindropuntia subulata", a member of the cactus family. We also discovered a "common cylindrical fig cactus". A cylindrical fig cactus within a ruin.

Number of Germans in the City

We didn't see many.

Local Contact

We had a short little chat with our receptionist. We also thought the little girl who served us in one of the restaurants was adorable.

Expenses

We treated ourselves to a few drinks but otherwise kept it low-cost. Besides, we also bought the "Boleto Turístico" here. For the gentlemen, it cost 130 Soles (32 €) each and for me 70 Soles (17 €) and it was valid for 10 days. It included sixteen different destinations and attractions. There were also delicious fried dough rings with syrup.

Standard Stall Offer

We saw the same stuff as in Cusco. But there were also small figures formed from black stone.

Laundry

We didn't do our laundry here.

Bus to Aguas Calientes

The receptionist and her husband organized the bus to Aguas Calientes for us. Unfortunately, they chose a poor offer for us. When we found out, it was too late and we had to accept the bad offer of 50 Soles per person. Thanks a lot. We reached our intermediate destination "Hidroeléctrica" with the adventurous minibus at 13:10. Then we used the toilet a short time (we only had one stop on our ride). At 13:40, we started walking and finally sighted Aguas Calientes at 16:30, reaching the outskirts at 16:40. From there, it takes about 30 minutes to our accommodation. We arrived around 17:00. On our route along the railroad tracks, only one train passed us. This would have cost about 36 dollars, so we preferred to walk the four hours, twenty minutes, right? Or something like that... 😉 One of the narrow old alleys with visible water channels.

Post Script

Here are some pictures from both of our stays: https://hoenisch.eu/photo/mo/sharing/s56J1jexI