Ollantaytambo and Machu Picchu

Strike! Nothing goes anymore: No taxis, let alone collectives. A few, few restaurants are open, otherwise everything is closed. Most shocking: No music and many very serious faces during the demonstrations. The government raised the food tax. In a poor country, this is very bad for the people.

But in the afternoon, the spell is over and we catch a collective taxi to Ollantaytambo.

Ollanta y Tambo was an administrative and storage center of the Incas. The houses in the city center (about 4x4 blocks) are still made of original masonry. The facility itself is far better preserved than Machu Picchu. However, it is much more difficult for people with a fear of heights to cope with it :-(((

Nevertheless, we are thrilled. Ollantaytambo is definitely worth a visit.

The next day we take the Inkarail to Agua Calientes. From there you can go up to Machu Picchu on foot (far too steep for our taste) or by bus. But that means getting up at 4am so that you can be in line at 4.30am. This is the only way to be among the first 8 buses (starting at 5.30am), which means being at the top shortly after 6am. Machu Pichu is so impressive because of its location in the mountains. Despite the many people, the crowd disperses so early in the morning and we are lucky to be able to sit down again and again, enjoy the view and be undisturbed. Our ticket may not have expired after 5 hours, but our energy has. So we head back.

In the afternoon at 3:30 pm we take the Perurail back to Cusco.

Our next excursion will take us to Rainbow Mountain: at an altitude of 5000m.