We have a chance to sleep in this morning as our departure is not until 10 am. What a rare treat for this vacation. The train ride to Ollantaytambo is taking longer than the trip here. There are numerous stops and delays to allow other trains to pass. During the trip, the crew puts on quite the show with a crew member dressed as a ‘Sagra Lion Dancer’ and other crew members providing a fashion show of alpaca wool goods.
Our arrival in Ollantaytambo is about 30 minutes late amidst a crush of people. We are met by Samuel and Marco to resume our private tour. The town is holding a two-day festival to celebrate the 144th anniversary of independence. As Ollantaytambo is the District seat, all the local villages have dance troupes to perform in the local square. The only bridge (1 way) out of town is blocked and the local police have no interest in traffic control. We are only 10 cars behind the bridge – what a difference that 30 minutes would have made. After sitting in the same spot for 3 hours, we are finally able to move and start our drive to Cusco.
We arrive in Cusco around 6:30pm. Our lodging is the exclusive La Casona, a small, 11-room boutique hotel that began life as a 16th Century manor house standing on the training grounds for an elite army of Incas. Spanish Conquistador Diego de Almagro and ‘Libertador’ Simón Bolívar were among its illustrious residents. Our suite boasts an expansive bathroom with two sink areas, soaking tub, separate shower and toilet with heated floors throughout. There are museum quality pre-Incan textiles on the walls and throughout the building. We have drinks in the library and then dinner in the intimate dining room. Excellent food. Only guests are allowed on the property. By the time we have after-dinner drinks in the library the entire staff knows our names and checks to make sure we are being taken care of appropriately. Very nice!
M
After a last glance at the mountains surrounding Agua Caliente and Machu Picchu we board the Peru Rail ‘Vistadome’ for our return ride to Ollantaytambo where our driver (Marco) and transfer agent (Samuel-2) will pick us up for the drive to Cusco city.
We are seated with an interesting couple from Austria who have been travelling in southern Peru for a few weeks. Brave souls – their tour included a few nights living with an indigenous family on their farm . No running water, no heat, no electricity. They slept fully dressed (note to self: always check the fine print). To make things worse, both were violently ill from eating street food days before. And, they paid for all this!
Much of the train route is single track and we spent a lot of time on side spurs deferring to oncoming traffic. As a result, we ended up arriving in Ollantaytambo over a ½ hour late. There is a huge festival in the village and all the streets are packed with indigenous villages from the surrounding highlands waiting in queue to dance in the square. No traffic moves and we’re stuck for over 3 hours!
Our lodging in Cusco is the intimate Inkatera La Casona. The ‘theme’ of the property is that of a private manor house with library, internal courtyard with seating, and a small but lovely dining area. The halls & common areas are decorated with colonial furniture, pre-Columbian textiles, and original murals. Each of the suites have fireplaces, heated floors and massive bathrooms. Fantastic!
D.
