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From Urubamba we caught a collectivo to Ollantaytambo, a few miles up the road.  Famed for its extensive Inca terraces and ruined temple-fortress, Ollantaytambo marks the lowest end of the SacredValley.  Whilst in use, its function is thought to have been an administrative centre, but following the Spanish “invasion” it was also used as an Inca stronghold after the fall of Cusco in 1536.

The village itself could be referred to as ‘quaint’.  A high proportion of the buildings are built on huge granite Inca foundations, with the distinctive, closely-knit, stonework that we became accustomed to seeing.  The layout of the village still retains characteristics inherited from the Incas, including the notion that if you look at it from the air it supposedly resembles a piece of maize.  Although Ollantaytambo is quite small it is really geared up for the tourists and is full of extortionately priced cafés, restaurants and shops.  It is the nearest village to the start of the Inca trail and it is also a popular place to catch the train from to go to Machu Picchu.  The number of hostels far exceeded those in Urubamba, as did their costs.

A couple of minutes walk from the central plaza we were wowed by an incredible set of grand terraces.  The tall stone terraces probably acted as protection from possible invasions, but their primary function was most likely to have been agricultural.  Like huge steps, they led to a temple/fortress construction on the top.  One of the amazing things about these ruins were the massive red granite megaliths that were located way up the hillside, about 80 metres from the level of the village.  It looked like the Incas had grand ideas for Ollantaytambo and were in the process of building a temple before the Spanish scuppered their plans.  The smoothly cut stone faces imply that the temple would have had a significant religious status – the rule of thumb being, the better the stonework, the more important the building was.  The huge slabs, weighing at least 100 tonnes each, originated from a quarry about three miles from the village.  It would have taken some manpower to move them, but the Incans weren’t stupid and supposedly diverted the river to help them get the slabs across the valley.  How they got them up the hillside to the top of the site was probably not so easy.

On reaching the top of the terraces we sat and enjoyed commanding views of the whole village and up the Sacred Valley.  It was easy to distinguish the smaller terraces along the valley and hillsides, many of which are in very good condition and still in use.  We didn’t get a chance to visit the salt terraces, which are still used today, or the nearby experimental agricultural terraces that form an amphitheatre, but the terraces were enough to show us that this valley was important agriculturally.  The Incans developed complex irrigation schemes, setting up drainage systems and canals to help expand their crop resources.  The highland areas today produce little more than potatoes, wheat and maize, but the Incans added to this list tomatoes, cotton, peanuts and coca among the many crops they grew.

Perched high on the hillside opposite the fortress are even more ruins.  Bearing in mind that prisons during the Incan rule were of no use because their punishment usually consisted of death, the theory that they were used as granaries rather than prisons is more feasible.  In fact the Incas had a particularly violent punishment system.  If someone stole, murdered, or had sex with a Sapa (high priest) wife or a Sun Virgin, they were either thrown off a cliff, hands cut off, eyes cut out, or hung up to starve to death.  “Ama Sua, Ama Quella, Ama Lulla”, “Don’t lie, don’t steal, don’t be lazy” was the philosophy of the Inca Empire, where laziness was a capital offence punishable by death.  Funnily enough, this excluded priests and royalty.  This philosophy is still apparent and despite being very poor, begging on the streets was not a common a sight as we had expected.  It seemed to be restricted to very old, wailing women, all of whom were totally ungrateful of any gifts of food or money.

Unemployment was non-existent during the Inca rule, everyone taking part in building roads, fortresses, temples, drainage and agricultural systems.  Rather than paying taxes, each Inca citizen was required to spend 7 weeks in the service of their Lord.

We clambered up the mountainside to try and reach the other ruins, but the main route was mostly impassable as most of it had slumped down the hillside many years ago.

Huge amounts of grain would have been collected from the along the valley and stored in these buildings.  Kept well away from the river would prevent it from getting wet and being so far up the mountainside meant there was little chance of it being stolen either.  From this point we could see back across the village and to the ruins, which looked even more imposing.  Our guidebook suggested that the terracing formed the image of a mother llama, with one of its young.  If we squinted hard enough we could make out some agricultural terraces with a fortress/temple on the top and came to the conclusion that the author may have been under the influence at the time.  This theory was more than possible and our reasoning was not unfounded.

Article taken from Inca Hoots by Caius Simmons & Vicky Brewis.

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