The area around Ollantaytambo was so beautiful that we decided to stay for a couple of days to have a look around. We read about a day hike to Pumamarca, an Inca outpost in the valley not far from Ollantaytambo. It was only five hours return so we picked up a picnic lunch from Heart's Café and headed up the valley.
Soon we were heading through the valley, surrounded by high peaks and incredible terraces still used for agriculture.
The most impressive piece of terracing we saw.
The path was not well marked, and if it wasn’t for a kind old man who happily rambled away in an incomprehensible dialect and showed us which way to go, we would have missed it completely. One path lead straight through the valley, but we needed to veer up the hill to head for the ruins. The climb was steep, and was made even tougher by the altitude, but the views were amazing!
After about 3 hours, we stopped for lunch inside the ruins of what was perhaps an old grain store, before climbing the last stretch up to the top. Upon reaching the top we discovered we had the whole place to ourselves! This was definitely some kind of outpost, as it was quite remote, but the scenery was beautiful!
A water channel follows the contour of the hill on the left. At on e point it ran right through the ruins but has since been diverted.
We spent a couple of hours exploring Pumamarca. Mark found a water channel and resolved to follow it to the source. This led to a hill rise, where the water tumbled down in a control waterfall. Mark went quite high up but could find where the spring emerged from the rock. It was a cool little innovation though and it was fun to think that this channel had been in place for several hundred years!
Pots, statues and other items would have been placed in these alcoves.
We highly recommend a trip to the ruins. It is a great walk, the ruins are largely intact and there's a good chance you will have them all to yourselves. Note that it is possible to get a taxi up there but we recommend the walk.
Posted under a starry night.
Flight of the Condors 
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