The Drive Back to Today

We drove back from Machu Picchu taking a route that took us up thru the Andes on a country road.  I couldn’t think of a better way to end this memorable trip…

Life in the Mountains

As we drove along, we came across farms every so often.  Altho I’m sure it’s a hard life, farming in the Andes, one of the perks is living in this beautiful country.

Snow Caps

We reached elevations of over 12,000 feet, where the air was crisp and almost cool, altho it was still summer in South America.

High Mountain Meadow

The blues are strikingly blue and, as you can see, the greens are quite vivid as well.  What a peaceful scene.

Mountain Top

Mountains tend to create their own weather, and I really love the way the clouds tend to wrap around the peaks.

Sun is Setting

As we drove back to our hotel for our last night of this journey, we were treated to a lovely, gentle sunset.

 

Enjoy!

 



Flowers in the Garden in Ollantaytambo

We stayed overnight in Ollantaytambo, and then were to catch a train to take us to Agua Calientes (the town at the base of Machu Picchu).  In the morning, before we left for the train station, I wandered around the hotel garden and enjoyed the blooms……

Hydrangea

Bright Pink Blooms

Bright Blooms

Orange

Apricot Petals

Enjoy!

Sketches in Ollantaytambo

Walking in the old incredibly narrow streets of what I think of as “old” Ollantaytambo resulted in some wonderful scenes that made great photo sketches.  Take a look –

Colorful Signs – Oil

When I say the streets in the old part of town were narrow, this hopefully gives you an idea of exactly how narrow they are!  They are basically the width of a sidewalk in the city.  One interesting thing this sketch illustrates is the small canal under the colorful sign on the left side of the image.  Almost every street in this part of town had one of these on one side and water flowed down these canals, both now and back in the day.  It wasn’t water that one would drink – I think it was water that had been used for washing dishes, clothes and for bathing.

Patient Puppy in Oil

 

When I saw this pup, I knew I had to capture him in a photo and sketch!  He was so patient, just sitting and then laying outside the little shop waiting for his human to emerge.  I just loved the little café type sign and the people walking in the background.  Charming.

Basket of Corn

This isn’t a sketch, but seemed to fit in with the theme of this post.  This basket of corn was sitting in front of the private home that we visited in Ollantaytambo.  I love the vibrant colors of the various types of corn.

Typical Street in Oil

 

Here’s another street scene from the ancient part of Ollantaytambo.  I really love the colors and textures, from the roofs, the building walls, and the cobblestone walks/streets.

The Blue Door

I will leave you with this image of the brightest colored door I saw in Ollantaytambo – electric blue!  Such a good balance of the bright blue against the more neutral brickwork of the building and the street.

 

Enjoy! 

 

Tempo del Agua Ruins

The ruins of this temple are around the town of Ollantaytambo.  Its focus is on water, which is apparent from its name.

Tempo del Agua Ruins in Ollantaytambo

One of the things that struck me about this image was the line of the roof of what I think were supply sheds back in ancient times.  You could walk up there today, but this was at the end of a long day up at altitude, so we all felt just fine viewing them from a distance!

Tempo del Agua Ruins

 

I like this image because the growing plants really seem to accentuate the steepness of the hills/mountains in which the town sits.

Window and Water at Tempo del Agua

Here’s an image I really like of a view thru a window in some ruins at our level.  You can see another building and more mountains thru it, and if you check below the window, you can see a small opening in the rock where water ran.  This was inside of the remains of a structure, so I’m imagining this was the ancient Inca’s version of a building with running water!

Enjoy!



Views of Ollantaytambo

We stopped for the night at a town called Ollantaytambo (pronounced O’Leon-tye-TAM-bo).  This was an interesting place with lots to see.  This post will give you a view of some of the scenery around and within the walls of this very old city.

Farm Life in the Andes

Just outside of Ollantaytambo, I saw this view of what seems to me to be a fairly typical depiction of farm life in the Andes.  I think it really helps to show you why terracing is so important in this area.  I can’t see any other way to plant their crops!

Face in the Rock

 

As we stood on one of the small “streets” (I use the term lightly) in town, we could look up and see this incredible carving.  Yes, it’s a face in the rock.  However, the most amazing thing about this (and something we did not unfortunately get to see) was that when the ancient Incan people carved this face, they positioned it so that on the solstice (June 21 or 22), the shadows created by the sun makes it appear that he is blinking.  Ok, so it’s one slow blink, but the fact they carved this AND positioned it so this would happen is almost unbelievable!

Shrines in a Home

We also were allowed inside one family’s private living quarters.  In this sort of gathering room, there were a few shrines.  In case you are wondering, the small animal on the left side of the image is an aborted alpaca fetus.  I almost didn’t include this image in the blog, but it is something that is part of life there.  I can’t recall the exact reason why they do this, but I believe it’s some sort of appeal to the gods.

Skulls in Shrine in Private Home

 

Here’s another shrine in the same home and in the same gathering room.  For some reason, seeing skulls didn’t affect me as much as the baby alpaca.  Again, a tribute of some sort.  It seemed rather morbid to me, but then, in New Mexico, there is the Day of the Dead and there are skulls all over the place for that, so who am I to judge?

Stove Inside Private Home

 

This is the last photo from inside this home.  This is a stove that they use to cook on.  Makes our camping look quite progressive, even if done in a tent and we cook outdoors!  After all, we’re only doing that for a few days, not every day.

Kitty and Cactus

I thought this would be a good image to lighten the mood a bit!  Loved this kitty perched on a wall right next to some prickly pear cactus.  I have to admit, we saw this cactus around all over the place…..and we were in a rain forest up fairly high in the Andes.  I always thought of cactus as being in the desert, but I guess this falls under learning something new every day!

Growing on the Roof

I really love all the colors and texture going on in this image!  The roof is some sort of clay or slate tiles and the building is made of stone.  Add to that the texture of the plants growing out of the roof, and it’s great!  I don’t know if anyone lived in that building, tho.

Ollantaytambo Church Bells

I really liked the simplicity and simple lines of this image.  I don’t know if the bells actually are still rung.  More to come in the next blog – views of the ruins around the town!

Enjoy!



The Ruins at Sacsahuaman

This was our third and final stop at ruins for today.  If you are wondering how to pronounce the name of these ruins, the closest that I can come is Sax-say-wo-MON.  Sort of saying “sexy woman” said with attitude.

Walking Along Sacsahuaman

There’s a lovely sort of walking path here that allows you two different types of views.  This view is of the building structures at the ruins.  Evidence has been found by archeologists that they Inca’s had plans as to how they wanted to shape the rocks so that they fit together.

Looks Like Texas

This is amazing, especially when you consider that there is NO mortar between the rocks.  I had to chuckle at this part of one wall – I thought the rock in the center of the image looked a bit like Texas, which, of course, wasn’t around in the 1500’s when the Inca’s were!

 Former Potato Field

Across from the building structures was an open area that it is thought might have been used to grow and dry potatoes.  Llama bones have also been found in this area.  Per Inca beliefs, llamas were buried there to entice the condors to come down and carry the wishes of the people to the gods above.

Perspective of Size

I’m including this image so that you can get a better perspective of how large many of the stones in the buildings are.  I find it amazing that the Inca’s were not only able to build with stones of this size, but also how they managed to move the stones to this site!  Per Harry, our guide, wheels were not used by the Inca’s.  Apparently, the terrain in this area was too uneven to even try to use anything with a wheel.  I know it may not look like it from these images, but remember, we are in the Andes and its mountain terrain.

Different Build Times

One might think that the smaller stones were the ones that the Inca’s used in their building.  But, no!  The larger stones are the ones the Inca’s put in; the smaller rocks are from recent times, when archeologists restored what had been knocked down.

Example of Terracing

This is a pretty good first example of terracing.  Different crops were planted and grown on the terraces.  We would be seeing much more of this in the days to come!

Enjoy!

 

 



Sights on the Way to Sacsahuaman

As we made our way to the third set of ruins, we saw some great local sights.  Take a look ……

Traditional Shepherd and Alpaca

We did see some people dressed in traditional Andean garb for the local shepherds.  This woman had her little guy (I think it was a boy) with her, carrying him in a sort of sling type backpack.  Love the bright colors…..and the alpaca is cute, too!

On the Roof

Many of the roofs of the homes and commercial buildings in the small towns have this type of décor on their roofs.  Generally, it’s 2 bulls and a cross (Peru is very much a Catholic country).  This décor symbolized union and prosperity and it is believed that having this décor on top of one’s home/shop will bring this to the person in the building.

Roof Décor

Here’s another variation of the same type of décor.

Peruvian Shepherd

And, finally, here’s another image of a typical Peruvian shepherd with her alpacas.  This time, I converted the image to an oil painting.

Enjoy!



 

Blooming Beauties at Puka Pukara

Flowers were popping up all over the ruins.  Take a look at a few of them…

Spot of Color

I think these flowers are in the daisy family.  I really liked the contrast between the roughness of the stones of the ruins and the gentleness of the flowers.

Delicate Violets

Here are some delicate looking violets growing wild along the base of the ruin walls.  Again, such delicate beauty among such rough ruins.

Perfect

Here’s another daisy image, from a ground level perspective!

Enjoy!

 

Landscape Around Puka Pukara Ruins

The landscape around the Puka Pukara ruins was quite lush, as I mentioned in a previous posting.  I thought I’d share a few images so you can see better for yourself!

Countryside

The countryside around the ruins is currently being farmed.  Altho you can’t see it in this image, often they use terracing.  There is natural terracing, altho the farmers have tended to enhance the natural terracing to make it better for their crops.

Andes Landscape

In this image, you can see a bit of the natural terracing in the lower right corner.  This image also gives you an idea of how pretty the landscape is here in the Andes Mountains.  I found it very interesting that the Andes are still growing at the rate of about 8/10 of an inch per year, except when there’s activity along the San Andreas Fault (in California).  When that activity occurs, then the Andes “growth spurt” can be several inches.

Alpaca Grazing

As we were leaving this ruin, I noticed this alpaca grazing in a meadow.  It looked so peaceful and calm – perfect ending for this post!  Stay tuned for some blooming beauties in the next post1

Enjoy!

 

 

The Ruins at Puka Pukara (near Cusco)

The day after we arrived at Cusco, Peru, we went on a tour of the area surrounding the city to check out some ruins that are relatively close to the city.  Interestingly, in the times of the Inca’s, they would built one of these areas every 20 miles or so to allow their armies or supply lines to have a safe place to rest at the end of each day.  Today, they are only about 20 minutes or so from the city!

Puka Pukara Ruins

This was our first view of the ruins and I was struck by how beautiful the rocks of the remaining ruins looked against the lush green of the surrounding landscape.

Puka Pukara Ruin Wall

One of the most amazing thing about the ruins was that when the Incas built them, they did not use any metal tools, so the rocks were formed by pounding on them with other rocks.  When you look at how close the rocks fit into each other, it’s almost unbelievable.

Thru the Window

I love the look of this image – the detail of the rocks, how the window frames a scene within the photo, hills (mountains?) in the background, just everything1

A Walk Thru the Ruins

In this image, I wanted to capture how well planned the “rooms” in this structure were.  Quite amazing, considering that this was built prior to 1536AD, when the Incas ceased to exist (they were conquered by the Spanish).

Outline of Foundations

Here’s another look at the foundations of the various rooms within the ruins.  You can still get an idea of how well-planned out things were.

Looking Down on the Ruins

I thought this was another good view of the overall layout of the ruins.  The organization of it is really cool, I think.  More to come!

Enjoy!