Another night with not so good sleep. Fighting, swearing and bottle throwing
outside our bedroom window on ground floor.
It’s a real shame because the hotel room is lovely. It’s got nice, tiled floors, plenty of room,
a big modern shower. And the walls –
they must be 60-80cm thick, although they only have single pane windows. Double glazing would be an improvement! It’s also down 4 flights of stairs from the
main entrance level. The hills are steep
here!
Our first mission after breakfast is to pay for the tickets
to Machu Picchu. Being Latin America,
nothing is easy. One can’t pay online
when you order the tickets, as that would be far too easy. No, you need to go and find the office to pay
for the tickets you have ordered. After
having to be re-directed from the first place we were sent to, we queue
interminably while the other monkeys in front of us try to figure out when they
want to go and for how long they want to go for whilst at the cashier. Apparently
it didn’t dawn on them to try and figure this out in the lead-up to arriving in
Cuzco, nor in their hotel/hostal, nor during the walk to the office, nor during
their time in the queue. No, it’s far
better to wait until you can inconvenience other people in a queue.
In the queue inside the building, there is little
ventilation and one girl faints in front of us.
This causes quite a bit of consternation and everyone stops what they
are doing to watch on staff member trying to bring the poor dear a chair. Nobody has much idea how to help someone who
has fainted.
Having finally arrived at the cashier, we get the next good
news. We can’t pay with VISA card. Riiight…
Fortunately can with Mastercard.
Can’t figure that one out.
Back to the hotel to pack up. We leave the majority of our luggage, only
taking an overnight pack. Walk to the ‘collectivo’
terminal to Ollantaytambo. Collectivo’s
are a bit different to the ones in Chile.
Here, they are what I know as a mini-bus, seating about 14(?) people. It costs us 10 soles each, about A$4, for the
2.5 hour trip. Bargain. The driver is typical for here – a bit crazy,
but we arrive safely. A very nice man
provides us with advice as to how everything works, as required.
We have lunch in the Plaza and soak in the environment. The hills surrounding the town and quite
steep, but nonetheless have Incan ruins scattered over them, including the
massive ruins of Ollantaytambo itself.
Our hotel is advertised as being right in front of them, and to our
surprise, it is.
We visit the Ollantaytambo ruins, which are fabulous. Lots to see.
Afterwards, we wander streets of town looking for dinner and
end up finding a festival going on with lots of music, dancers. It’s a great show. We’ve heard the music going on all day from
the ruins, but now we see what it’s about.
Lots of music, dance and impressive costumes. There’s also lots of beer flowing for the
locals, who clearly enjoy their evening.
On the way back to the Plaza, we find a churro vendor – a pair
of old blokes who look a bit dodgy. We
buy a packet of three churros and taste them warily. They are delicious, so it’s back for another
3. Should have bought more!
Dinner was pizza and limonada, plus two vegetable empanadas
for 40 soles. Bargain. Reasonably good pizza!
As we get into bed and are ready to go to sleep, a band
starts up nearby. The traditional type –
trumpets/horns, drums etc. Surely not
again, but it turns out to be only short-lived, and then everything is
quiet. Rain during the night. Hopefully not a problem for tomorrow!
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