Day 5 – Ollayntaytambo to Aguas Calientes

Day 5: Ollantaytambo ruins and train travel to Aguas Calientes

(Wednesday, June 26)

Visit the expansive and extraordinary ruins at Ollayntaytambo.

Take the 2-hour comfortable and scenic train ride to Aguas Calientes.

Free time in Aguas Calientes.

Hosted dinner at the lively Indio Feliz restaurant.

Overnight at Intawasi hostel in Aguas Calientes.

 

Ollantaytambo and Aguas Calientes

Ollantaytambo, with its gridded, cobblestoned streets are the product of Inca city planning, dating back to the 1200s. Babbling waterways, branching from the nearby rivers, feed the still-flowing irrigation system that the Incas designed, their handiwork admired to this day.

Ollantaytambo is, from a historical and symbolic point of view, equally as significant as Yllampu (the original Inca name for Machu Picchu), but it needs a better publicist. It is an immense complex, covering 600 hectares, and in fact takes up much of a valley, next to and in fact including the Inca era village that shares its name.  It’s archeo-astronomy and spiritual significance is often overlooked and we will explore it in interesting ways.

Inka Rail offers a comfortable and scenic 2-hour ride to Aguas Calientes – the town below Machu Picchu.  Snacks are served on the train or you can bring your own refreshments.

Aguas Calientes is a small-town catering to the tourists who come to see Machu Picchu.  Full of restaurants and a bustling market for gift buying.

Links:

Ollantaytambo

theonlyperuguide.com/peru-guide/the-sacred-valley/highlights/ollantaytambo-ruins/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ollantaytambo

Aguas Calientes

http://www.andeantravelweb.com/peru/destinations/machupicchu/aguascalientes.html

https://www.indiofeliz.com/

http://www.intiwasispiritualcenter.com/en/centro-espiritual

Gallery:

Day 6 2020 Ollyantaytambo