El Valle Sagrado, Pisaq/Ollantaytambo (part 2 of 3)

A dos horas de Cusco, Pisaq es el nombre de un pueblito pintoresco que se encuentra en el valle, al lado del rio Urubamba, y tambien de las ruinas incas que se encuentran en la cima de la montania. Llegamos en la camioneta a las ruinas y pasamos dos horas largas explorandolas y muy impresionados (y con mucho vertigo) con la altura y con las vistas del valle y el rio debajo nuestro. Nos sorprendimos mucho con lo preciso que se “enganchan” las piedras de las paredes. Como si hubieran tenido alguna herramienta laser para hacerlo: se juntan exactamente, sin nigun tipo de espacio entremedio. Como lo hicieron? Es mas – como (y porque) subieron todas esas rocas gigantes por la montania? Supongo que es porque tenian una vista de 360 grados que lo hacia muy difical para cualquier enemigo! Tambien quedamos mas que impresionados con el sistema de agua, con canales de agua fresca corriendo por tuneles dentro de la montainia (estos todavia corren constantemente hasta el dia de hoy). Como pueden ver en las fotos, tambien tenian un sistema de terrazas para plantar (que tambien servian como paredes de contener). Mientras caminabanos por los tuneles oscuros y sederos angostos, escuchabamos el sonido de una flauta dulce en la distancia. Seguimos la musica y llegamos a la parte mas importante de las ruinas, donde esta el Templo del Sol, redondo y con un reloj de sol arriba. Alli charlamos un rato con una psicoanalista de Lima, que viaja al Valle Sagrado seguido para desenchufarse un tiempo, y vimos un grupo de loros volar en la distancia. Tambien encontramos de donde venia la musica, y los nenes compraron una quena del hombre que tocaba y vendia sus instrumentos. Ariel rapidamente aprendio como tocar esos mismos sonidos dulces. A la salida de Pisaq, vimos a una camioneta parecida a la nuestra con placas argetninas estacionada atras de una casa, y de curiosidad Gustavo fue parar para ver. Alli hablamos un rato con unos jovenes artesanos de Ushuaia que estan viajando por America del Sur en su combi. Salimos un poco tarde para Ollantaytambo, otro sitio importante en el Valle Sagrado, y llegamos de noche. Aun asi, ese pueblo nos sorprendio: es una ruina viviente! Las mismas paredes, muros, y calles, que hicieron los Incas estan alli, y la gente siguie viviendolos. Tambien esta el mismo sistema de agua, con canaletas corriendo por las calles angostas y empedradas. Otra vez nos preguntamos como hicieron para trabajar tan precisamente con esas piedras? Ollantaytambo es bastante turistico, porque es la ultima parada del tren para Aguas Calientes que va desde Cusco. Igual, es preciosa y muy tranquila, y pasamos un tiempo recorriendo las calles y admirando los trabajos antiguos. Encontramos un lindo restaurante accessible y comimos una cena riquisima antes de irnos a dormir en la camioneta en la plaza principal. De maniana nos levanto el ruido de gente esperando a sus omnibuses para ir a trabajar, y los nenes yendo a la escuela. Compramos unas hojas de coca frescas y nos sentamos para decidir que hacer ahora. Todavia no estabamos seguros de como ibamos a llegar a Machu Pichu, ya que el tren desde Cusco sale $97 cada uno, y de Ollantaytambo salia $62. El tren es caro, y aparte los duenios son una compania extranjera que se lo lleva todo. Escuchamos que podiamos llegar a Santa Teresa y caminar. Por lo de las problemas de la camioneta, consideramos tomar un omnibus hasta Santa Maria, y despues un micro a Santa Teresa, y caminar 8 km. en la via del tren hasta Aguas Calientes, pero no sabiamos donde dejar la camioneta. Al final decidimos manejar hasta Santa Teresa nosotros mismos….

We headed out by noon on Friday and reached Pisaq within two hours. Pisaq is the name of both a picturesque village in a valley beside the Urubamba River, and some impressive ruins perched on the mountaintop above. We drove up (and up) the mountain side and then walked around the ruins for a couple of hours, admiring our first real experience of Inca architecture. We were enchanted (and slightly vertigo-struck) by the view of the entire valley below, with the river meandering through it. We could not get over the stone ruins themselves, as the walls look like they were fit together using some laser tool to cut the stones precisely- they fit together exactly, without the slightest gap! How did they do this? What is more, how (and why) did they get all those huge stones up there? We were also very impressed with the irrigation system and the canals of fresh water, coming from deep within the mountain, which still continuously flow to this day. As you can see from the photos, they also had these complex terraces for planting crops (which doubled as retaining walls). As we hiked over the ruins along narrow paths and through cave passageways, we could hear the sweet sound of someone playing a flute in the distance. We followed the sound and arrived at the main area of the ruins, the Temple of the Sun, which is round in shape and has a sundial on the top (astronomy was very important for the Inka). There we chatted for a while with a psychoanalyst from lima who comes to the Sacred Valley regularly to unwind, and we also found the source of the flute music. The kids bought a Quena from the man who was selling them, and Ariel quickly picked it up and started playing those sweet sounds himself. As we were leaving the ruins and heading to Ollantaytambo, another important site about an hour or so away, we noticed another VW camper van parked behind a house with Argentine license plates. Gustavo insisted that we stop out of curiosity, and we spent about an hour chatting to some young artesanos from Ushuaia who are driving around South America in their van. We continued on our way a bit later than expected, and so we arrived to Ollantaytambo in the dark. Not being able to see it did not dampen our amazement at this city: the oldest continuously lived in city, it is a ruin itself! The stones and walls are still there, and the main street is made of stones, with that amazing irrigation/water system flowing through the narrow streets. Ollantaytambo is fairly touristy, being the last train stop on the super expensive train before reaching Aguas Calientes (Machupicchu), but it was still very low-key and we enjoyed walking around the town, admiring the stonework. We found a great little restaurant and had a very nice meal before popping the top to sleep in the main square. In the morning we were woken up by all of the hustle and bustle of the plaza, with men and women waiting for their buses in order to get to work and children rushing off to school. We bought some fresh coca leaves from a woman in the square and sat down to figure out our next move. We were still at that point a bit undecided about how to get to Machupicchu. There are a few options, which include taking the train from Cusco (which runs around $97 per person, and that’s for the cheap seats!), taking the train from Ollantaytambo ($62 per person), or either driving or taking a microbus to Santa Maria, and then to Santa Teresa, parking there and walking 8 km along the train tracks to Aguas Calientes. We asked around to find out how far it was to Santa Teresa, and (even though Eva and Mary generously offered to help with the costs of the train) we finally made the decision to go for it and just drive there ourselves….