Hike back to Ollantaytambo

Today we woke in the shadow of the early Incan ruins of Pumamarka. At six o clock the sun was high in the sky and the smell of pancakes hung over our campsite. Slowly, people began to emerge from their tents – bundles in hats, coats and gloves that they had donned the night before to fight off the frigid evening air. At eight o’clock, we sat down to breakfast and gratefully sipped from mugs of warm hot chocolate as we prepared for the day ahead.

When we had finished breakfast and packed up our campsite, we headed up to an altitude of about 12,000 feet to visit the Incan village of Pumamarka that we had seen from our campsite a few hundred feet below. As we ran our fingers along the ancient rocks and lay down on the slab where it was supposed sacrifices were made, our guide Adolpho narrated the legends surrounding the site in fluid Spanish. Surrounded by towering mountains on all sides, we found ourselves in the heart of the Andes,  walking along paths that had been trod by the feet of the Incas and the mysterious people who came before them . In was quite a spectacular sight to see the Incan aqueducts traversing the mountain side, originating from glaciers and lakes,  to provide water to terraces on mountain tops.  

As we made our way down the mountain (with considerable ease compared to the hike up), we witnessed sweeping views of the valley below and the high, wide agricultural steps that can be seen throughout Andean mountainsides. When we got to the bottom, grateful that mules were carrying most of our belongings, we hurried home for a quick shower and change of clothes before reconvening at the Panaka restaurant in the town plaza for a long, well-deserved lunch

Kitchen tent

pancakes for breakfast

Into the ruins of Pumamarka