Ollantaytambo, Inca village

Ollantaytambo is probably the my favourite town out of the places I visited in Peru and it is located in the Sacred valley of the Cusco region at approximately 2700m altitude above sea level. Ollamtaytambo was used by the Inca Emperor Pachacuti as royal estate where he built the town and ceremonial centre. In Spanish conquest period, it was a stronghold for the Inca resistance.

The afternoon that we first arrived from Cusco to here, we were dropped off at the plaza of the town. Around the plaza, there are many restaurants and cafes ready for tourists to visit. The sun was blazing down and so we quickly found a spot outside a cafe to enjoy the view of the mountains surrounding us. That was the first time I can actually see how Peruvians live.

After we came back from Machu Picchu, we stayed overnight in Ollantaytambo to explore the town. We headed away from the plaza and the main street, into the small alleys to further explore. According to the books, the village has an layout of four street crossed by seven parallel streets. All the residences are courtyard style. Every property has its own little yard in the middle, plus a guard dog that very often roam around the alleys. There's a water system to prevent flooding, thus you will notice that one side of the village is on higher ground than the other. It's really beautiful to see the water floating down on the side of the alleys. We climbed up one mountain in the afternoon to take a bird's eye look at the village. The little path way up got extremely narrow and steep that I thought about giving up. The Inca storehouse ruins standing on top of the mountain was amazing and the view from top was extraordinary. The village was serene with little cobble road alleys, dogs roaming around, the plaza in distance and the Inca ruin in the background with the river running along side with the train tracks. Ollantaytambo is a much better place to stay and experience the Peruvian life than Cusco. There is not much nightlife here but you can truly experience the serenity and simplicity of life.