Easy For You To Say

The day for Machu Picchu, Sunday April 3rd, had finally arrived.  But we weren’t going there immediately.  Instead, we were going to Ollantaytambo, which is as hard to spell as it is to pronounce.  

I have seen and heard Ollantaytambo (Awl-an-tay-tambo) described as a “castle,” a “fort,” and an “Incan temple.”  I don’t know what to believe, but I do believe it is definitely worth going to if you are in that neck of the woods.  (Blogger’s note: The pronunciation is simply a guess on my part, feel free to make up your own). 

It’s not nearly as famous as Machu Picchu, but I have to think it would draw a healthy tourist crowd if Machu Picchu did not exist.  It is not a UNESCO World Heritage site because of not meeting certain standards, but they seem a tad picky to me.  I would put it on the list, but I don’t have quite that much sway.

(Editor’s Note: I’m shocked.  Reporter: Enough of the snark.)

At 9,160 feet of altitude, Ollantaytambo is an important historical site for multiple reasons.  Conquered by Pachacuti in the mid 15th century, the previous culture had constructed some of it, but then the Incans built it up to their needs.  

It then became the fortress for Manco Inca, a king under duress from the encroaching Spaniards.  He called his chiefs together at Ollantaytambo in 1537 and, in the brilliant words of Mark Adams in his must-read book, “Turn Right At Machu Picchu”, “delivered a rousing thank you speech, concluding with what sounded like the imperial equivalent of resigning to spend more time with one’s family.”

We split into two groups. . .those who wanted to do the steep climb to the top, and those who wanted the gentle tour at the bottom.  I briefly considered saving my legs for Machu Picchu, but then did the steep climb to the top, because, well, it’s there.

Our guide for the group going up, Juan Carlos, was an excellent guide, and he stopped the group multiple times to talk about what we were seeing.  The accompanying blog post of pictures does a lot of the explaining.

Oh, let’s face it, the pictures and captions don’t do it justice, so you’ll just have to go on your own!