Sick in the Sacred Valley

If ever there was a good place to get sick and recuperate, Ollantaytambo is it. There are quaint cobblestone streets, nice hostels and lots of Gatorade.

A lovely little town in the Sacred Valley, it is flanked by an impressive Inca fortress from which Manco Inca and company successfully held off Pizarro’s little brother Hernando in 1536. Our hostel window and patio actually overlook these amazing ruins which include temples, water channels and lovely terraces. Our guide Monica told us that when the major earthquakes came, the Inca buildings always withstood the shakes because of their brilliant stonework and design. They had storehouses on both sides of the river which in themselves are impressive structures. Much of the old town where the “common people” used to live during Inca times are still standing and occupied today. The priests, royalty and military lived up in the fortress area for obvious reasons. This civilization was very impressive and more discoveries are being made daily by archeologists.

Unexpected highlights of our tour included some sort of fancy photo shoot with a blonde, statuesque model on top of the fortress -- Anna was most impressed. She wore silver bangles and some sort of see-through plastic jacket. Not sure what they were marketing but she would have given the Amazon warriors a run for their money. Later we saw her daintily eating a cracker and cheese as she eavesdropped on our tour guide’s description of the ruin and pulled out her iPhone to document it.

We also saw some large stones where they put the mummies together and another where they made animal sacrifices. Our guide pointed out that black llamas were of particular significance to sacrifice as they were very rare. There were channels on the rocks where the blood would flow out. Today, however, it’s just a pretty fountain with water type structures.

While the bacteria here continue to haunt our little systems, the food is amazingly good. We have tried a bit of everything which is probably why we keep getting sick,though we've pretty much followed the rules of don't eat if you can't peel it or cook it. Yesterday after a good lunch of chicken casserole, soup and a hummus sandwich, Court and the kids ordered dessert at a restaurant that donates its profits to several social and sustainable perm culture projects in and around the Sacred Valley (www.livingheartperu.org). When a hot fudge sundae with three scoops of ice cream (instead of one), plus a cookie and a chocolate muffin showed up, the kids knew Mom had screwed up her Spanish again. Still, it was yummy!

Court decided to walk it off later during a hike up the mountains on the opposite side of the fortress. There were some impressive storehouses there and she was quite proud of herself for making the journey -- sometimes crawling up steep rocks amidst high winds -- to watch a lovely sunset amidst the ruins.

Tomorrow…back to Cusco, we hope!