On the buses
We were quite lucky as when the taxi dropped us back in Pisac, the bus to Ollantaytambo arrived. The bus was already packed with locals on their way home from work. Eug scrambled up the steps onto the roof to tie on our rucksack. I was paranoid that the bus was going to start moving while he was still boy scouting on the roof.
Fortunately, we were safely inside the bus, stood up, when the bus set off. We followed the river through the valley and at times, we were a bit too close to the edge for comfort! After a few stops a seat became free at the front of the bus so I sat down with the rucksack on my lap next to a teenage boy cuddling a tiny kitten that mewed and clawed every time we went over a bump! Both of them fell asleep eventually and it really was a cute sight.
After a while, Eug seemed to become the bus driver’s helper. He had positioned himself in the doorway so had to move around each time we stopped. He helped women and babies to their seats. He manned the huge cannister of “llamagas” that someone had left at the front of the bus to stop it from rolling around. At one point the bus was very full, with a selection of work tools left at the front. I had someone’s (heavy) bag resting on my shoulder and a basket of fresh leaves from the field up my nose. It was all very practical.
At Urumbamba, it was everyone off! Here we had to change buses. Again Eug scrambled onto the bus roof and untied our rucksack. We found our next bus and he was on the roof again making a bed for the rucksack. We ignored the dodgy guy begging with bible and tears – all false and blasphemous as he turned around in fits of laughter when he realised we weren’t going to be suckered.
Back on the bus, which again was packed, we made our way to Ollantaytambo. And as the skies greyed, we both cursed as we remembered that we hadn’t put the raincover back onto the rucksack. Damn! The valley became very narrow at this point and the huge mountains towered over us – everything seemed huge. The lady next to Eugene crossed herself at every corner and religious icon – with her on board we were going to be fine!
We turned the corner to Ollantaytambo which was an uphill cobbled road. Something was obviously on the way down as the bus stopped and reversed back down the hill. This was quite unnerving as there was a sheer drop on our side of the road. We prayed that the driver was using his wing mirrors! We stayed upright and continued up the hill after a coach had passed.
We arrived at Ollantaytambo at dusk – a very small and fairly basic town. We found the Hotel Pakaritampu which was about 10 minutes (downhill – phew!) from the main square. Our room was huge with a massive bed. Very clean and modern. We crashed out early after our adventures at the tower of Pisac!
Tags: Peruvian tales
mihai