Semana Santa Day 4- Part III

Sacred Valley, A guided adventure in 4 parts
Lunch and Ollantaytambo

We stop for lunch at a buffet style restaurant in the town of Urabamba. It is nothing special, having been set up primarily for the different tour groups coming through. There is good conversation and we get to know the other members of our group a bit better while we sample stewed llama and alpaca meat. With our bellies full we head on to the next stop, Ollantaytambo.

Ollantaytambo, or the resting place of Ollantay, was initially inhabited by the Antis ethnic group. This group's name was mispronounced by the Spaniards as Andes, and thus the name of the mountain region was named after the people who lived there. Ollantay was an Antis chieftain who helped Inca Pachautec conquer the northern Peruvian coast. Ollantay fell in love with the Inca’s daughter, however, and as in most legends of love, this was denied because of Ollantay’s less than worthy origins. Ollantay rebelled against the Inca and moved to what is now Ollantaytambo. Later he was crushed by Inca Pachautec, who then developed this town as his royal estate.

Before we reach the ruins themselves we drive through the narrow streets of town in our large tour bus. Water channels run down the middle or sides of each street. Ollantaytambo is the only Peruvian Inca settlement in use that still retains the original layout in the shape of a trapezoid. We reach the main square, where locals have set up their fruits and vegetables on the steps. Everyone is in traditional dress and the color red is everywhere. As we walk down a side street we walk through a small tourist market and look straight up into the monumental terraces that scale the steep mountainsides.

This is the view, with the addition of thousands of archers, that Pedro Pizarro and his Spanish troops were greeted with right before their devastating defeat during their conquest of the Incas. In 1537, right after his defeat at Sacsaywaman, Manco Inca garrisoned his forces here. While the Spanish retreated in a hailstorm of arrow fire, Manco Inca dealt his final blow. He broke dams that redirected the Urabamba River, flooding the plains and sinking the fleeing Spanish horses. However, the Inca's victory did not last long. Later that year the Spanish regrouped, quadrupled the attacking forces, and stormed the fortress a second time. Manco Inca, seeing his position as hopeless led his army farther into the jungle to his last stand at Vilcabamba.

We carefully climb over 200 steps up through the terraces and enter the religious sector. Walking along one of the top terraces we pass through the remains of the Temple of Ten Niches. Around the corner we find 6 huge stones polished flat, standing upright and creating an unfinished wall. On the wall you can see carvings of the Southern Cross and the three-level Incan cross. These huge alter like stones were moved from 6 km away, down one side of the valley, across the river, and up the hillside to their present location. Evidence shows that the Incas never forded the river with the stones, but instead would drag the stones to the river’s edge and then redirect the river around the stones before continuing on dry land.

We then pass through the residential sector of the ruins back down the terraces and into the Baño de la Ñustra, or “Bath of the Princess”. Here there is a smoothly polished rock with a fountain. While we are there a young boy is busy playing in the water and presents an irresistible photo opportunity.

Across the valley from this point we can see several buildings carved high into the mountain side. These buildings were food storage houses. To us they seem so far away and inaccessible up the opposing mountain side. Can you imagine waking up in the middle of the night and craving a snack? Historians argue that the locations of these storehouses are logical because the coolness and ventilation provided helped preserve the food. Above the storehouses in the rock face of the mountain is the (naturally formed) face of a bearded man with a large sack of gifts on his back. This is not Santa Claus but the mythical father of the Incas, Manco Capac, the son of the sun. Mythology says that he emerged from Lake Titicaca and declared Cusco the navel of the Incan empire.