Day 92 10.10.15
*Warning – this blog entry may contain several landscape photos, if this is not of your liking don’t read this blog entry*
As we opened up our tent door, we were surprised by the fog that surrounded us. We got handed our cup of coca tea and were ready to start the morning. The campsite was beautiful though!
The pancakes provided an extra energy boost that we got served for breakfast.
We had one last group photo, as the horsemen would be heading back with the horses and all the tents etc. while we were heading back to Ollantaytambo, more downhill.
Before we did descend, we headed to the party of the trek that gives it its name – the quarry. Here we found a little cave in which there were several heads and mummified parts of skeletons. (As you can see here the foot of the mummy is still covered in a reminiscent of skin…)
Some of the mummies were offerings; some were just natural burial sites. For example here is one that is wrapped around in rope.
In this one you can see on the right side another elongated cranial skull, that means that a priest was given here as sacrifice to thank the mountain for being able to take the stones from the quarry to build temples in Ollantaytambo.
We got to explore a little more of the quarry as we were walking down. Here for example is a stone wheel. It is said that the Incans were not advanced enough to use wheels for their mode of transport, however it is more likely that they were so fearsome of their God the Sun God, that they didn’t want to use anything that resembled the sun in order not to anger their God.
There were so many rocks from different stone avalanches positioned around our pathway.
Here is another example of the types of rock that the Incas extracted from the quarry. It is not discovered entirely yet how the Incas broke the stone from these quarries, as they never had any written version of their language. It is believed however, that they used the natural properties of the rocks, they set fire underneath the rocks, had materials they used to provoke the cracks (drilling little holes etc.) and then quickly threw water of the rocks in order to quickly cool the rock down and produce the final cracking of the stone for very clean cuts. Then they went over the rocks with a stone that contains a very dense iron metal core, with which they pretty much sanded down the rocks to form perfectly smooth surfaces that would fit together with other stones perfectly for honour their Gods the best way possible.
This is pretty much the pathway we took down the hill.
Nice view.
An Incan wall to prevent stone avalanches.
Special Incan tombs, probably of workers from the quarry – people living more basic lives.
We headed further downhill.
Incan irrigation system.
Views of the valley.
We were getting closer and closer.
The Incan terraces of Ollantaytambo.
A mudslide from the top of the mountain.
Farmers working the hillside.
The bridge we passed to Ollantaytambo.
Back in civilisation – the last “after” photo.
Yes, you do catch the sun a little (even with sunscreen…)
Survivor.
After reaching Ollantaytambo, we enjoyed our packed lunches ( a stir-fry) and then headed onwards to the train station to take the train to Aguas Calientes, or Machu Picchu town.
We passed some of the places we had trekked along, but the rest of the landscape was new to us.
This is the bridge the people from the Inca Trail use as a starting point. Every day 500 people can do the Inca trail, this is however including the porters and guides, so only about 250 people (tourists) can do the Inca trail each day.
The train kept moving and brought us more landscape.
I even tried some Inca Kola on the train, but found out that it’s not really my type of drink. It tastes like chemical banana… No thanks.
Along the way we saw further Incan ruins – this time a more fortified settlement.
We even got snacks – some sweet little empanadas…
The train had roof windows from which we could see the towering mountains.
More terraces.
Changing vegetation into more lush, jungle-like greens.
We finally got to Machu Picchu town and were immediately engulfed by the hordes of tourists around.
Especially loads of school classes were around making us dread the climb to Machu Picchu the next day a little, since all these people would probably also be up there with us…
Another statue of the past, present and future illustrated by the snake, jaguar and condor respectively.
After relaxing a little in the hotel and getting absolutely terrorised by the horrible sand flies (in the 5 minutes we were standing around in the hotel reception), we headed out a little to explore the town.
As a side note: Argentinian television channels are the most random thing I have ever seen on TV. Their shows are just very strange, for example during a dancing competition, having the children of the dancers come on stage, chase the host around the studio, until at some point their nappies were full and they got changed on centre stage. Very very random. Or in a different show celebrities would impersonate other musical celebrities, where a man dressed up as a woman. Strange.
We strolled over a handicraft market selling all kinds of things.
For example this John Deere ah, John Llama T-shirt.
As I was craving some guacamole and crisps we headed to the plaza, overlooking the emerging hillside and did some people watching. Notice the colourful flag again.
The nachos were not as satisfactory as I had hoped, but dinner made up for it.
I had a passion fruit daiquiri (yes drinking alcohol again!! :) ).
I also had an avocado salad.
As a main I had a chicken curry with rice (very very mild).
After finishing our cocktails we headed back to the hotel and fell asleep, ready to leave early to Machu Picchu the next morning.
