Ollantaytambo is an Inca town in the Sacred Valley of Peru, about 2,800 metres above sea level, and unlike most Inca sites it is not a ruin: people live here in houses laid out on the original Inca street plan, and the streets, with their stone channels of running water, are some of the oldest continuously inhabited in South America. Above the town, a huge stepped terrace climbs the mountainside to a temple complex, built for the emperor Pachacuti in the fifteenth century, with enormous stones fitted so tightly that a knife blade will not pass between them.
The stones are the astonishing part. The great red granite blocks of the Temple of the Sun were quarried on the opposite side of the valley, several kilometres away, and moved across the Urubamba River and up the slope, a task that still baffles engineers. Ollantaytambo was also the site of one of the few Inca victories over the Spanish. In 1536 Manco Inca flooded the plain below the fortress and rained stones and arrows on the cavalry of Hernando Pizarro, who was forced to retreat, though the Incas later withdrew to the jungle.
For a rider, the road along the Sacred Valley from Cusco through Urubamba is a pleasure, with a smooth, well-surfaced highway that follows the river between snow-capped peaks and terraced fields. The bends are open, the traffic is busy with buses and trucks, and the villages have speed bumps, so stay alert. The air is thin, and the sun is strong, with a cold wind from the mountains. Mototaxis and dogs are everywhere, and the cobbled streets of the town are best explored on foot.
Ollantaytambo is also the station for the trains to Machu Picchu, since no road reaches that site, and the town fills with travellers in the morning. Fuel is available in Urubamba, about seventeen kilometres to the south-east, so fill the tank there. The town has plenty of cafes, bakeries and small restaurants, and the Peruvian speciality of choclo, giant-kernelled corn, with cheese, is a good simple lunch. Evenings are cold, and the stars are exceptionally bright.