Ollantaytambo (“Ollanta” for short) is a quaint town in the Sacred Valley built on foundations of Inca stonework.

the cobblestone streets of Ollanta

We stayed at Peru Quechua’s Lodge, a lovely B&B located on the creek (http://peruquechuaslodge.com/en/peru-quechuas-lodge/).

It felt a little like home staying on the creek. No doubt this will end up being one of our favorite places we stayed on this trip.

Peru Quechua’s Lodge

our room upon arrival…I hadn’t mentioned any special occasion when booking, so this was a fun surprise

one part of the delicious breakfast served

Ollantaytambo has Inca ruins on both sides of town. We visited the main archeological site first. We arrived just shortly after the 7am opening time, and had the place to ourselves for a while, which was nice.

Ollantaytambo Ruins

Climbing up the ruins…stair stepper, Inca Style

view from the top

Jay is obviously taller than the average Incan

view of Ollanta from the ruin’s military zone, a great vantage point for the Incas to see when the Spaniards were coming

Next, we visited the ruins on the other side of town, on Pinkuylluna Hill. There is no entry free for these ruins, and from this site, there is a great view of the main ruins on the opposite hillside.

entrance to Pinkuylluna Hill

making our way up the hillside

Pinkuylluna Ruins

While in Ollantaytambo, we did the nearby via ferrata & zip line tour with Natura Vive (http://naturavive.com/web/via-ferrata-zip-line/). After getting geared up and going through a safety demonstration, we started the climb up the 400 meter rock face.

I was more afraid than I anticipated. Only a few minutes into climbing up, my legs started shaking. I told myself that shaky legs is only going to make matters worse. I took a few deep breaths and said a prayer. I felt better.

Then…it started to RAIN! Now, everything was getting wet and a little slippery. YIKES! And my next thought was…I PAID to do this. 😂

yikes, it’s raining!!!

I was so happy when the rain dissipated. And when it did, gratitude overtook fear. A while later, we came to “the bridge”. Thankfully, I had calmed down by this point. It took a lot of courage for me to step away from the rock face and step onto that little steel bridge suspended high above the earth below.

The whole via ferrata experience was terrifying and exhilarating.

After reaching the top of the via ferrata, we zip-lined down the mountain. The weather took a turn for the worse again while we were zip-lining…windy and rainy. The experience felt more extreme given the weather conditions. We had to tuck like cannonballs on the lines we did into the wind. And then, for the lines with the wind at our back, extra hand braking was required.

zip-lining!

This was a fun day, with highly professional guides. If money were no object, we would have splurged on staying the night there, in one of their adventure suite capsules which are attached to the rock face. Wow, talk about a room with a view!

photo credit: natura vive