PISAC AND OLLANTAYTAMBO FROM CUZCO

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Day 12: CUZCO - PISAC - OLLANTAYTAMBO - AGUASCALIENTES

Today begins one of the most special days of our trip to Peru, where we will go to Pisac and Ollantaytambo from Cuzco, and then continue with the "ascent" to Machu Picchu.
In Pisac, we will be lucky to enjoy its famous market, which is only celebrated on Sundays.
At 6.30 in the morning we are already having breakfast at our hotel in Cuzco, the Casa Andina Cuzco Plaza and when we look out the window of the breakfast room, we see the cathedral full of people and that is when we remember that today is Palm Sunday.

So we hurry breakfast and after leaving the backpacks at the hotel, where we will return within 3 days, after visiting Pisac, Ollantaytambo, Machu Picchu, the Salinas de Maras, Chinchero and Moray, we go to the Cusco Cathedral to see the ambience that there is a Palm Sunday.

Palm Sunday in Cusco

We took advantage of this unexpected departure to the streets of Cuzco to buy sunscreen in a pharmacy for 16 soles, something we did not carry and our skin is already suffering, since being at this height the sun hits much harder even if it seems that the day is cloudy. So remember it and don't forget the cream at home 😉
A few minutes after 7.30 in the morning, we stopped a taxi to ask for prices to go to Pisac city, not to the ruins that is more expensive and tells us 50 soles, so we discard this idea and ask you to take us directly to Puputi street, which is the place from where the combis that lead to Pisaq leave and that will be much cheaper than a conventional taxi.
As soon as we get out of the taxi we see a combi in which they are shouting "Pisac, Pisac ..." and we make signs, to keep us site.
In just under 10 minutes the combi is full and we make our way to the first stop of the day, Pisac, for only 5 soles per person.
We arrived in Pisac from Cusco in 45 minutes after crossing incredible landscapes, with mountains that seem to be taken from any animated film.
Another good option is to book this excursion to the Sacred Valley that includes Pisac and Ollantaytambo with a guide in Spanish and return to our hotel in Cusco.
If you do not have enough time to tour the Sacred Valley you can go directly to Machu Picchu from Cusco by booking this one-day or two-day guided tour in Spanish (night in Aguas Calientes), both include pick-up at the hotel, the Panoramic train ticket with glass roof, bus up and down to Machu Picchu, guide and tickets.
Our initial idea was to tour the Pisac market held on Sundays and then go to the ruins, but the driver of the combi recommends us to go to the ruins now, since there are fewer people and then tour the town and the market.

Arriving in Pisac

We value the advice and seeing that he is absolutely right, we listen to him and take a taxi that for 25 soles takes us directly to the top of the ruins of Pisac.
This is the only way to access the ruins with public transport, since there are no public buses that get there.
If you want to be left at the bottom, the price is 20 soles, but for our experience and the difference in price, we recommend that you leave at the top.
The idea is to visit the ruins of Pisac and then walk down the mountain, which we have read that will take approximately 1 hour, to get back to the town of Pisac.
As you can see today we have a most complete day, just like yesterday visiting Tambomachay, Pukapukara, Qenqo, Cristo Blanco and Sacsayhuaman from Cuzco.
Another option, if you do not want to take a taxi or hitchhiking is to walk from the town, but do not forget that it is 4 kilometers and everything is uphill, so if you want to do it it is better to go with enough time and mentalized that it is quite Lasted.
When we are about to reach the upper area of the ruins of Pisac, we pass through the ticket control, in which we have to show the famous Tourist Ticket of Cuzco again so that we can mark this visit.
A few minutes past 9 in the morning we are entering the ruins of Pisac and as we have the first vision of these, the first thing we think is that if this is so ... Machu Picchu has to be incredible.

Pisac ruins

This is one of the reasons why we chose to make this journey on the trip and start with the "lightest", to end with one of the great cherries of the trip as Machu Picchu.
At the top of the hill we find this Inca citadel, which stands in a triangular plateau with a vertiginous ravine on each side.
Pisac is famous for its terraced terraces that extend along the southern and eastern flanks of the mountain, forming large curves, which as there are no steps between them, thus avoiding major maintenance and further erosion.

Views of the earth terraces of Pisac

Pisac, in the Sacred Valley of Peru

Instead, the terraces are joined by sections of diagonal stairs made with slabs fixed on the walls of the agricultural terraces.

Pisac and Ollantaytambo from Cusco

On top of these various paths cross the mountains, guarded by canyons and well defended by huge stone-carved entrances, steep stairs and a tunnel carved into rock.

Touring the ruins of the Inca citadel of Pisac

Pisac

This dominant site not only watches over the Urubamba valley that extends at its feet, but also enters the northeast jungle.

Pisac

At the top of the terraces is the ceremonial center, with a mooring post of the sun, various water pipes in operation and some exquisitely carved masonry works in the well preserved temples.

Temples in the citadel of Pisac

Fountains in Pisac

A path climbs the mountainside to a series of ceremonial baths and surrounds it to a military zone. From the back of the site, if you look through the Kitamayo canyon, you can see hundreds of holes drilled in the mountain wall. They are Inca tombs that were sacked and in which tourists are not allowed to enter now.

Pisac in the Sacred Valley

Graves pierced in the mountain

Pisac is being a discovery for us. It is incredible and we definitely recommend that you dedicate the time you deserve, since it is not only about the remains of an Inca citadel, but that the place where it is located is totally recommended.

Book the best rated tours and excursions in Spanish from Cuzco by travelers:
- Excursion to the Sacred Valley of the Incas
- Excursion to Machu Picchu
- Excursion to Moray and the salt mines of Maras
- 2-day route along the Inca Trail
- Great 4-day route along the Inca Trail
- Many more excursions and tours here

After just over 1 hour and a half, we decided that it is time to start going down to the town of Pisac, so we make our way to the left of the largest ruins, we pass through a tunnel and follow a path of stairs up and down until we reach the road that will lead us to Pisac.

Tunnel on the way back to the town of Pisac

At this point I have to say that I, suffering from quite vertigo, have had moments when I have not had a good time. It is at this moment that I have begun to have many doubts about how I will carry climb tomorrow to Huayna in Machu Picchu.

Trails path of the town of Pisac

We continue our way between spectacular landscapes until we reach other ruins where we spend a few minutes resting and enjoying an unbeatable environment.

Road to the town of Pisac from the Inca citadel

And we continue our way back, knowing that we have succeeded fully with the decision to make the way back on foot.
And here is when the road really comes. Stairs, stairs and more stairs ...
Of course, as we said before, among spectacular landscapes, but not recommended if you have vertigo.
And to all this, counting that we are at 3800 meters and do not take the same efforts as if we were at sea level.

Returning to the town of Pisac

It is certainly a highly recommended tour, but think that the visit to the Inca citadel of Pisac and the descent to the town will take you about 4 hours or so, taking it with tranquility and without doing a marathon.
The visit to the ruins of Pisac is about 1 hour and a half. Reaching the second will take you more or less 45 minutes and from there to below, the town of Pisac, count 1 more hour. All this without counting the stops to take pictures and rest 😉
So recommended for everything that is seen and lived, but we cannot ignore that it is tired and takes time.

Last section of the way down to the town of Pisac

Views of the town of Pisac from the road

We arrive at the town of Pisac after 12:30 pm and we will stop right at the Sunday market. So we took the opportunity to take a walk, being impressed with the number of places there and the beautiful things we see.

Pisac town market

Although the truth is that we do not really want to buy, so after 1 noon, we go straight to lunch, which today we have won a good feast.
We ended up at La Cuchara de Palo restaurant where we ordered some tequeños with guacamole, a pizza and a pasta dish, plus beer and coke for 91 soles.

Eating in La Cuchara de Palo

After recharging energies, before leaving we ask at the same restaurant the options we have to go to Ollantaytambo, which is the place from where our train leaves for Aguascalientes and our next stop of the day.
They confirm that There is no direct bus from Pisac to Ollantaytambo, as we had read, so the option of going by public transport is to take a bus that runs every half hour to Urubamba and then take another to Ollantaytambo.

More practical information to prepare your trip to Peru
- 10 essential places to visit in Peru
- 10 essential places to visit in Cusco
- How to get to Machu Picchu from Cusco
- 10 essential tips for traveling to Peru
- The best travel insurance for Peru

The time that this journey can take us is about 3 and a half hours without counting the time it takes to catch the second bus.
This morning when we arrived in Pisac in combi, we saw that at the official taxi rank the Journey to Ollantaytambo from Pisac by taxi cost 80 soles and takes 1 hour and twenty minutes, so today after the tute we carry today, we believe that it will be the best option and more telling that for nothing in the world we want to lose the train to Aguascalientes.
The visit to Ollantaytambo does not urge us, since we will return the day after tomorrow, after visiting Machu Picchu, so we can visit the city and the ruins with all tranquility and without hurry.
And so we do. At 3 in the afternoon we leave the restaurant and after a second round of the market and the town, which by the way has an incredible good roll, we take a taxi that for 80 soles will take us to the center of Ollantaytambo.

Pisac Market

Streets of Pisac

Streets of Pisac, between mountains

All the way we do it through incredible landscapes that explain, without speaking, because this area of Peru is called Sacred Valley.
We find it amazing how mountains can be so beautiful.
It takes just over an hour to reach Ollantaytambo, so at 16.20 in the afternoon we are already in the center and seeing that the day is still very sunny, we take the opportunity to visit the town, without a fixed course, just losing ourselves through some streets that They invite us to stay here for a few days.

Streets of Ollantaytambo

After 5 in the afternoon we make a small break in a cafeteria and have a mint, a lemonade and two cakes for 18 soles.
You have to charge energy for tomorrow and knowing that in a couple of days we will be here again, we do not know anything wrong to make this stop to recharge energy.

Snacking at Ollantaytambo

Here we spend the rest of the afternoon until 5.45 we go to the train station, where they only let us pass 30 minutes before the departure time of the train from Ollantaytambo to Aguascalientes and after checking our identity documents.
We received a phenomenal deal in everything, although it is not surprising after the price of the train tickets that have cost us almost more than the international flight.

Train from Ollantaytambo to Aguascalientes

We leave punctually at 7 in the afternoon and the journey, being at night does not have much to do, really.
This would be one of the points that we would have liked to change, since we have read that this route and train is spectacular, but for following the route that we had raised and not losing a full day waiting to make the journey tomorrow morning and arrive at Mid-morning to Machu Picchu, we preferred to miss the landscapes seen on the train from Ollantaytambo to Aguascalientes.
For more information on the transfer to this wonder of the world you can read this post on how to get to Machu Picchu.

Interior of the train from Ollantaytambo to Aguascalientes

The train is as calm as possible until a group of 20 children appears with a teacher unable to control them. And how could it be otherwise, we are lucky that they go in our same car.
And so you have everyone in the car with the face of few friends and the children shout all the way, shouting and singing.
The glances among the tourists do nothing but cross and we intuit that we are all to call them attention, but none dare.
Without a doubt, education starts from a very clear basis. Do not disturb others and less on a train that costs a pastón 😉
That said, we are lucky to have an incredible full moon, from today until the 15th we will have a lunar eclipse. that accompanies us all the way and makes the journey much more bearable.
Is there a more special place to enjoy a lunar eclipse than in Machu Picchu?
We arrived at Aguascalientes at 9 p.m. and as soon as we left the train tracks we were impressed by the shadows of the mountains we are surrounded by ... impressive.
If this is so now, tomorrow in the sunlight has to be spectacular.
We meet many people waiting at the station with signs with names and brands of luxury hotels.
Without a doubt, having a lot of money is a perfect option. But we think, why spend a paston just to sleep when you don't even have a view of Machu Picchu?
Because if you had views, it is very clear that it is priceless!
That said, we leave the station and we are surrounded by closed shops and a lot of corridors that make us disorient. Luckily, a man listens to us say the name of the hotel we will be staying at tonight, The Little Casita Hotel and shows us the direction we should follow.
We arrive in less than 5 minutes, we check in and after a brief explanation of what we can see tomorrow in Machu Picchu by the owner, we approach the ticket office of the bus that will take us tomorrow to Machu Picchu to First thing in the morning, that we have 20 meters from the hotel and that as you can see, was the reason for choosing this hotel and so with it not having to get up early tomorrow more than strictly necessary.
We buy the tickets for $ 19 per person round trip and at the same ticket office they recommend us to go at 5 in the morning to queue if we want to get on the first bus (buses leave as they fill up, until they meet the quota of tickets sold).
Since 2017 it is mandatory to visit Machu Picchu with a guide, so it is advisable to book this excursion to Machu Picchu that includes the bus and guide in Spanish for a similar price or book this private tour.
If you have two days it is interesting to book this tour that includes the climb to Huayna Picchu, all the tickets, a guide in Spanish, accommodation and transportation.
And now, we return to our accommodation, La Pequena Casita Hotel. Touch rest and start dreaming about tomorrow.
It is night, nothing is seen, but we know something, behind those mountains is one of our dreams ...