Going up Ollantaytambo

The next site we planned to see was Ollantaytambo, located in the town of Urubamba. We packed the morning of June 18^th, left around noon, arrived in Urubamba rested for the remainder of the day, and then traveled to Ollantaytambo at 6:30 this morning. 

Ollantaytambo was once an ancient fortress used by the Incas, with some of the architecture already built by previous tribes, as well as an important site in understand the irrigation of the Inca (more info can be found at www.wikipedia.org/ Ollantaytambo).  This site had the typical Peruvian walls, each built without mortar but with accurately placed slabs of stone. The terraces were also akin to that in Saksaywaman, with the terraces being formed in a stair-like pattern, with each “step” draining any overflow into the lower step through a channel, as well as drive any excess water to a tributary, which would lead to a river.

It was interesting to be able to see, however, more of these irrigation channels and systems that I was previously able to see. It was visible that certain areas were used to flow water into different areas, such as the bathing areas or the terraces.  I found the whole system and design of these irrigation channels to be very impressive for such an ancient civilization to create. It would be very interesting to investigate more about the channels, their uses, and were some of these channels may have been built and/or destroyed.

After investigating the lower portion of the ruins, I hiked up to the top of the site. It was a VERY long and tiring walk, but it was definitely worth it. The view of the town was gorgeous, and it was awesome to experience just how high the Inca built the fortress.

Once I descended from the top, the bathrooms were the next stop. These baths were very small; they were designed to have some water in the square-shaped area while having water pour down one of the walls like a waterfall. While I personally would not take a bath in one of the structures, it was awesome to learn that the Inca were advanced enough to create showers and baths.





Ollantaytambo was an amazing experience, and is somewhere I would definitely love to visit again. It was a very tiring journey, but it was definitely worth the muscle pain. If you want to know more about Ollantaytambo, go to the wiki page or go to http://www.ollantaytambo.org/en/.

Only two more days till Machu Picchu!