Cusco to Ollantaytambo

Got a late start out of the hostal this morning, but it turned out fine as I took a mini-bus instead of a big bus to Ollantaytambo. I reconfirmed with the hostal the location of the bus terminal and the lady told me to go around the corner and there would be taxis that wait for 2-3 people and they split the cost -- and would still be cheap.  Well, as I walked down the street there was a mini-bus sitting there half full and they said the cost was 10 soles - about $3.50...more expensive than the bus, but faster and more comfortable.  It cracks me up here; the people on the mini-bus were getting impatient when there were just a few seats left, and they started yelling "vamos".  This happened on the bus to Puno a few weeks ago, too.  And then, on this bus, when the driver swerved, someone yelled, "loco" from the back!  He was driving pretty fast....

I got to Ollantaytambo a little after one and had a great afternoon exploring the ruins and taking pictures.  It's just so huge and amazing.  The same as Pisac: it's not just the ruins themselves, but where they are built and the views surrounding them. I stayed in a nice hostal, one of maybe two rooms occupied and had fantastic views out my two windows:

The first picture is of the terraces and are the primary ruins, and the second picture is of a "colca" - a food storage building.  I didn't have time, (and my knees probably couldn't have taken it), to hike up to the colcas.

For dinner I headed to a recommended cafe, Heart's Cafe, from which the proceeds support a number of local social, charity efforts.  When I arrived, I was seated with two gals from France as there were no open tables.  They had been traveling for some time and were headed to Machu Picchu also, but not via train, rather a bus and a 5 hour hike.  When they left, another 4 gals came in and were seated with me.  One of them had come to SA on some kind of a project she was doing related to community work she was doing in Nepal, and has ended up here for 8 months. The other 3 gals were volunteering and helping her with her project.  Didn't really get the whole thing, but two of them had helped plant alfalfa that day and 2 of them had helped harvest corn.  My quick dinner and early to bed (to the sound of a creek right outside the window), turned into a two-plus hour meal and interesting conversation before a much later than planned bedtime!

Here's a link to my online album; unedited of course:  http://picasaweb.google.com/margie510/Ollantaytambo#