Ollantaytambo: The Fastest Recovery

On Wednesday, I got to sleep in due to my illness. I was not feeling right the night before and was had a fever. After an easy morning in bed, I had a mild breakfast consisting of bread and crackers, I met with my fellow students and my professor. They had spent the morning at the Ollantaytambo ruins and hiked around the sun temple and looked at the terraces. Around two o’clock we gathered in the lobby and headed for the less popular ruins directly behind our hostel. I was feeling up to the mild climb and knew I would be taking a major risk concerning the future of my trip. We observed the sun setting on the hill and were able to move to multiple sights and watch several sunsets. We first gathered in a room with four full standing walls and one window. From the window, one could see the topmost ruins from across the valley illuminated from the setting sun. A rock in a wall might have represented the illuminated temple. Shortly after the shade arrived, we scurried up to another building higher up and watched the how the sun left shadows on the surrounding valley walls. One unusual stone high on the rim of the valley walls and Dr. Brown hypothesized if that rock might be the last bit irradiated during sunset.

Agricultural Terraces

The Sunset over the Ruins

On Thursday, Michael and I explored the ruins at Ollantaytambo for a few hours before leaving for Aguas Caliente. Matt luckily made his return and gave Michael his ticket to gain access to the site. While we trekked through the ruins, Michael regurgitated information left and right about the various agricultural and irrigation techniques used by the Incas. One striking detail was that some of the ruins date back to pre-Inca times. The walls shown obvious aging but near the base of some walls, you could see that the Incas built on top of an older structure. The pre-Inca foundation used mortar and had a lower quality of craftsmanship. Another observation was what looked to be a bathtub. This pool was about a body’s length and had walls about three feet high. The tub was fed water from a canal system overhead which led me to believe it purpose for cleaning. The canals in general were very elaborate and contained narrow chutes, cascading waterfalls, and various sized pools. The terraces were spectacular and were surprisingly packed with technology. The terraces were slanted at one end to effectively drain excess water. To move from level to level, steps were built into the vertical sides of the terraces to allow farmers to efficiently transfer among the platforms. Underneath each terrace were several layers of different materials to allow proper drainage of water. The first layer would consist of a rich topsoil to provide nutrients to crops. Below, would be a layer of granular sand-like material followed by small stones and finally larger stones. This would allow proper permeability through the layers while permitting the water to nourish the harvest.

Viva Peru!

~JH