Peru - Ollantaytambo

On my way back from Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu I stopped over in Ollantaytambo. The town dates back to the 15th century - it used to be a royal estate and has some of the longest continuously occupied dwellings in South America. Being there felt like travelling back in time. An Incan aquaduct system still runs through he town and is still very much in use. The water rushing through it creates a nice background sound for strolling around the cobbled streets. 

The red flag on a stick means that in this house they make and sell local alcoholic drink made of corn - chicha.

Many inhabitants still wear traditional clothing - some for the tourists, but not all. Women wear skirts, hats and their long hair braided in two strands, which looks a little funny to me - makes them looks like very old school girls :)

This particular lady asked if I wanted to take a picture of her - for a fee, of course. Of course I did, she looked amazing in her read outfit.

I was very amused to see one of the popular modes of transport in town was... a tuk tuk! That is what I used to get from the main plaza to my hostel, which was a little way out of town. 

The place wasn't much but it had nice views of the valley from its terrace. One morning I was sitting there eating my breakfast, when I noticed trucks full of traditionally clothed women being driven down the street towards the center. Of course I had to run down to investigate, duh :) It turned out it was the 8th of March and the town was holding Women's Day celebrations in the main plaza. I couldn't believe my luck - I just spent a few hours sitting there, watching all the amazing traditional clothes. There was a stage with music and speeches - it was nice to hear they were speaking up against domestic violence.

One of the main attractions of Ollantaytambo are the Incan ruins. The fortress you have to pay to get into - I skipped that, and instead hiked up to the granary ruins. The hike had a very interesting sign at the beginning, both telling you not to go on it because of it being high risk, and informing you of the opening hours :-P Also featured a fun image of a pirate skull... lol. Contrary to the information on the sign the hike turned out to be not much effort and quite pleasant, with some nice views. The granary ruins looked cool. They were built at a higher elevation to make use of lower temps there and so protect the produce from rotting. They also featured a ventilation system to help with that.