Today we traveled up the sacred valley to the town of Ollantaytambo - or Ollanta (pronounced like Oi-yanta) to meet up with an Australian guy named Max that we have met a few times on the trip.
The route took us up into the hills behind Cusco and the ruins of Sacsayhuaman, then to the town of Pisca where the road enters the famous Inca sacred valley.
Along the valley the road still shows the damage from the earthquake and floods of earlier this year. In many places the road is now only one lane with the remnants of the other lane hanging in mid air over the river. The only warning of this are a few rocks on the road - I certainly would not want to drive here at night.
The town of Pisca is famous for the Inca fortress that sits high up on the edge of the very steep valley above the town. We drove up to this site. Nina toured the place while I sat in the sun.
Around 3:00pm (our appointed meeting time with Max) we entered Ollanta to find traffic chaos. We would eventually discover that the town Plaza was being repaved (and has been for a year) and as a result the road through the town must detour. But the long line of traffic had missed the detour and was simply stalled with the lead vehicles confronted with a plaza blocked with unlaid stones. The local police eventually got the mess sorted out and we found the hostel where Max had arranged for us to park.
A few more twists and turns and we finally met up with Max. We spent the evening with a few beers, cooking dinner and chatting.
Camping
We stayed with a friend in a house in the village of Ollantaytambo, but we parked the Tiger on the yard of a hostel named Inti Punku - this would be a good place to try if looking for a place to stay with an overland vehicle as the yard is big enough for buses. To find it enter the town along the cobble stone road. One block before the plaza turn left. The road will split, the left hand branch that goes down hill is the one you want. The hostel should be visible ahead and the blue gate is where you enter the parking area.
