Ruins at Ollantaytambo

Staying in Ollantaytambo was a good choice. I like this town and it’s nice to walk around and appreciate the old buildings.

Morning walk through the ruins

Rufus (named by me) followed us around most of the morning. How I wish I could have taken him with me.

This morning we took our time exploring the pay ruins (we saw the free ones last night). We were there early this morning and there was barely anyone around. The boleto turristico we bought in Cuzco is good for this site.

Be in the Know:  We didn’t hire a guide and quickly regretted it.  This place is amazing and it would have been good to hear the details about it.

To the right you can see water running along a waterway.

It’s obvious that this place was never finished. There are a lot of stones still with the handles on and stacks of stones left in the process of being formed. What I love is the amazing waterways carved into the stones and water pouring through the fountains.

The salt mines seen from above

On to the salt mines

We met our taxi driver and headed for the salt mines near Maras, Peru. Such beautiful views along the way!

I loved walking among the salt pools and getting close up photos. The naturally occurring salt water streaming from the mountain has been used since before the Inka.

I also loved shopping here. I found a handmade purse and did just a little negotiation. Green suede and brown leather, it’s just my style. Rebecca tried to talk me out of buying it, saying I could probably find them anywhere, as it turned out this was the only place I found these types of purses.

 

 

On to Moray

Moray – those dots down there are people.

The Moray site is an amazing set of terraces.  It’s believed that the Inka used these to test growing different types of crops.  Each of the terraces represents a slightly different ecosystem.

The ride up here was great too. Wonderful views of locals going about their business and beautiful mountaintops.

A beautiful view on the way

Rebecca and I did have to dust off our limited Spanish to converse with the driver.

And how about that, no mishaps, no misunderstandings, and no one made me cry.
All in all a good day. Tomorrow we’ll have the same driver take us to the ruins and market at Pisac, the ruins above Cusco (Sacsayhuaman), and into Cusco for our next location change.

Plus I’m making plans. We were supposed to head back to the states soon, but since Rebecca and I have nothing to rush back to, we might just stay in Costa Rica and learn to surf.  Time will tell.

Want to see more:
Day 31 Aguas Calientes to Ollantaytambo, Peru
Day 33 Pisac, and Cusco, Peru

I’m Sonja Dewing. I’m an award winning creative writer, a published author of Toy of the Gods, an adventure in the Amazon. If you’d like a free copy of the prequel, Ire of the Gods, sign up for my email list and you’ll get it right away.