An Incan town short on hostels but big on pancakes
Trip Start
Jun 19, 2010
1
15
20
Trip End
Aug 29, 2010
Ollantaytambo, Sacred Valley, Peru
Sunday, August 1, 2010
We arrived at Ollanta after dark and spent an hour or two floundering around looking for an available hostel among the narrow, Incan layout. We eventually found a good one, put our bags down and headed out for a delicious dinner with Laila and her mom at KB Tambo, a hostel and restaurant. Get the burritos, they're served fajitas style...mmmm.
We crashed, then woke up early to hit up the nearby ruins before the train left. We started the day right with a huge breakfast at Heartīs Cafe. The banana pancakes were unreal and all profits go to childrenīs projects in the Sacred Valley http://heartscafe.org/index.html.
After bfast, we took the short walk through town to the base of the ruins. The ruins consist of large terraces with a Sun temple on top. At this site the Incans quarried red stones from across the valley and dragged them across the river and up the other side. The stonework here was some of the best we saw.
At noon, we hopped on the train to Aguas Calientes. The two hour ride goes up the river valley, passes a number of Incan ruins and enters the jungle.
We decided to take the train over doing a trek for both time and money considerations. The Inca trail must be booked months in advance and can cost $300-600. There are some other hikes that sounded cool, but even most of the alternatives cost at least $50 per day. The train was $65 round trip from Ollantaytambo, but more if you take it from Cuzco.
Comments
Rob! Has Liana told you about our love affair with KB from KB´s hostel?
Also, how is the guide book treating you...afraid of heights yet?
xo
Sarah