We wake up with a good news from the bathroom, the water is finally back. You can hear it as it runs inside the toilet water reservoir. I am kind of tired since I slept late last night but I still manage to wake up before 7:00am, jump into the shower, it's hot and steamy. That's a good feeling. I rather take a burning hot shower than the cold shower any day.
Plan of the day "originally" is to go to a Spring for a soaking fun. But a few people changes their minds at the last minutes, there are only 3 of us left, me, Mike and Maddie (all Spanish beginners, we are in the same class). We walk to the bus stop, there are some people waiting for buses, so we ask whether this is the right place to catch a bus to Calca, where we are supposed to find some baños calientes (hot springs). This woman at the bus stop has been very helpful, she advises that the hot springs in Calca is not very good, the good ones are in Lares, where it will take us 3 hours to go. That's a bit too long, since it is almost 2:00pm, we have to be back by 8:00pm for dinner. So, at the end, our soaking plan has soaked away. Maddie decides to join the other girls to the market. I am kind of not sure what to do, I don't want to stay in but at the same times, everything seems to be a bit of a way to go to. Mike (from Canada) decides to go to visit Ollantaytambo, an Inka ruin. Since I have never been there, so I say ok, I will go with you.
To get there, we need to take a bus to Urubamba (1 hour), from where we will have to catch another bus or colectivo taxi to Ollantaytambo (30 mins). We first go back to the school to get change for me anyway, since I am wearing my flip-flop for the hot spring. Don't think it will work for walking in an Inka ruin. We finally get on a bus to Urubamba around 2:30pm. The ride is long and boring, I fall asleep a little, then it's Mike's turn. We successfully arrive at Urubamba, but we get off too soon. The bus would be ended at the terminal, where we will find another bus, but don't know what is calling us, we just get off as soon as we see Urubamba. We ask around with broken Spanish, where to catch a taxi or bus to Ollantaytambo. Some taxis quote 40 Soles a piece to take us to Ollantaytambo, when it really should be 2-3 Soles per person. So, we continue on. I ask a lady walking by, and she tells us: walk 5 blocks this way, you will find the bus terminals where we can take a colectivo taxi or autobus to Ollantaybambo.
Arrive at the bus terminal, it is kind of filled with buses and people. The bus costs 1.2 Soles, the taxi costs 2 Soles, but we need to wait for the vehicle to fill up with people before we will go. We mistaken that the taxi would have to fill up with 5 persons going to Ollantaybambo (the same destination) before it will move, so we refuse to get on for quite awhile. The taxi driver says or we can pay 5 Soles each, and he will go right away. We kind of feel like there is some mis-communications and not sure whether we should take that taxi. We finally do jump on it actually after seeing no sight of a bus ready to go our destination. We pay the 10 Soles (US$3) for 2 persons. I later figure out why, basically we have paid for the 3 non-existing pessengers. It makes sense I guess, if you want it to go now, you need to pay extra for it. So, anyway, I am feeling all good, we set out a goal to Ollantaybambo, and we get there successfully.
Ollantaybambo is so much more than what I had imagined, I would have missed it if Mike has not made the call to go there today. It is the biggest Inka sites I have seen thus far. The village itself is beautiful. We get there around 4:00pm, the sun is great on one side but not on the other. Either way, I am excited for being there. My tourist ticket expired since Monday, I am planning to inquire whether I can get an individual ticket for this site. When I just hand my ticket and student id to the ticket official, I say Yo soy estudiente..., before I even shoot out my question, he already punch a hole on my expired ticket, meaning I can go now. He totally misses the date. I tell Mike, this is my day!
There are a few separate parts of the sites, where we need to hike on some trails to get to. The main site we need a tourist ticket to go in, the other side does not but the trail on the free side is poorly maintained, as one should expect. The main site is filled with tourists, a lot of group tours. We finish that part maybe around 5:00pm, since we still have some daylight, so we decide to walk over to the other side, the small hill across from the main site, where we must pass through the town and hike up to. When we get there, the sun is already behind the mountain. The trail is more steep, and the rock steps are all unevenly. Back to my anxious mode, I grab onto anything on the wall as I hike up, even though this is not as bad as yesterday at Salinas. Just don't want to be blown away, since it is quite windy. With some huge effort, we get to some high points. Mike continues going up on the trail (I bet he wants to reach the top), while I am taking some pictures at a massive structure. Before I know it, he is already out of my sight. There are some people there nearby at first, but they have already been on their way down, I am left alone in a ruin at that mid-hill, the sky is clearly getting dimmer and dimmer. I yell out Mike, Mike, Mike, a couple times with no feedback. I know I need to get down before dark. The trail is not well-maintained and I am not that skillful with heights anyway, so I just yell out again, louder, 5 times, says I am heading down. I hope he hears me.
I start to go down, look up a couple times to see if I would spot Mike. I mean, I don't want to leave him up there neither, what if something happens to him, but I need to get to a point low enough to fall secure myself before I can think of his safety. Anyway, finally! I see him coming back down, he is way up there, son of a gun! I yell Mike, he answers finally. When we finally get back down to the town, maybe it was 6:30am, walk back to the plaza, find a bus back to Urubamba (2 Soles) without too much troubles, it is already dark when we are on the road back. At Urubamba, we get off at the bus terminal, just walk across to the other side of the same building, we find our bus back to Pisac (2 Soles again). Arrive around 8:00pm, Grab some water and pastries, we take a colectivo taxi back to Toray. We are late for dinner.
It has been a great call to go Ollantaytambo, but there always have to have some side episode everyday!
Photos here: Day 23
