Date: 21 December 2010
Day: Tuesday
Location: Ollaytantambo, Sacred Valley
Weather in Peru is worse than London. It changes every 5 minutes.
Our journey today was to the Sacred Valley. I was actually quite frightened of having to pass through curvy roads under heavy rain, not being able to see due to fog and the big rocks which have fallen on the roads from the mountains. Thankfully however, our driver was a lady and she drove the vehicle very carefully and smoothly. I was very pleased with that.
According to one of the Inka legends, the first human was created in the river in this valley. They also used to use the river for their astronomical works to watch the stars. Most important of all, the land here is very fertile. So that’s why they call this place the Sacred Valley.
We stopped by a few towns and Inka temples on our way.
We passed through many villages and towns and saw how people live in so much poverty even though the country has very rich resources like gold. Many children can’t go to school and have to work in farming.
Now we are staying in the town called Ollaytantambo (it is a town, which largely preserved its Inka elements),
at Pakaritampu Hotel, room 18. The hotel is actually very nice. It has views to the old town of Ollaytantambo and the temple, and there are colourful tropical flowers in its garden.
The climate is really very strange here. One of the reasons why they farm in sets is because there is a micro-climate at each altitude. At high altitudes, they farm products, which stand the cold and in the lower sets, they farm products, which prefer mild climate (i.e. corn).
Tomorrow early morning, we will take our train to Machu Pichu. My legs are already sore because of the sets and temples we climbed today. Let’s see how things will be tomorrow. At any rate, we have started to really comprehend and learn South American and particularly Inka history and culture. These are aspects we don’t hear, learn or know in the part of the world where we live. As I have written before, it is not like ancient Egypt but nevertheless, it is still interesting.