We started our second week of class in Taray, a tiny town 2 miles on a dirt road from Pisac. We still have just Ingrid in our class. Today we did estar vs ser and reviewed the pretérito indefinido some more. We are spending much more time speaking this week. Much of the classtime is spent in discussion (in Spanish).
After lunch, we went to Ollantaytambo with the other morning students (8 of us in all). We took a mototaxi to Pisac, two taxi to Urubamba, and a cambio to Ollaytaytambo. Total travel time was around 2 hours, all paralleling the Rio Urubamba through the valley. We could glimpse snow-capped peaks in every direction. They are very jagged like the Tetons and have many glacier. The valley itself is very beautiful and fertile and full of small farms. Everywhere there are people working the fields, carrying produce, and drying corn in the fields or on their roofs. The farms produce corn, vegetables, and fruits. (Potatoes are grown at higher elevations). This area is like the Central Valley in California except it is all small family farms and not agribusiness.
Ollantaytambo is an impressive Incan ruins that used to be an administrative center. It is located at the end of the Sacred Valley where the Urubamba starts flowing faster downhill to the Amazon. Because of its positioning, it was the only Inca stronghold to resist Spanish attacks. Ollantaytambo is an impressive series of terraces up the steep cliff. Partway up is a temple of 10 windows, which are just the right size to cause echos of sound. There are various storage sites across the valley and in this ruin. The Incan administrators had plans to store a lot so they could provide food in case of natural disaster. From the top you can also see canals, running water, and series of channels for water. The part at the bottom is laid out in a grid. There are many remaining building structures and it was fun to explore. (The sites here are not like the US National Parks. You are free to explore and go anywhere you like.)
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