Instead of doing the full 4-hour journey back to Cusco after seeing Machu Picchu, we decided to stay the night in Ollantaytambo. We wanted to see a large set of ruins there that Scott and I had seen in passing in other visits.
As it turned out the next morning, the entrance fee to the ruins was as much as the entrance fee to Machu Picchu. That’s a whopping $40, people. Since you can see the majority of the ruins from the town, we opted out of spending that much money, and having to climb the 250 steps to the top. I think we made the right choice.
After milling around the town a bit, we hailed a taxi back to Cusco. I’d hoped to use Juan Carlos, the driver we’ve used before, to get to Ollantaytambo and back, but he was not answering his phone earlier in the week. Our new driver, Grimaldo, turned out to be just as nice though, so we also booked him to take us to Pisac the next day.
The rest of the day was pretty much spent stealing wi-fi from the Plaza Hotel in Cusco. We also went back to one of the markets to pick up a set of earrings and a necklace Heather had passed on before.
$40? How is that possible? Is it part of the Boleto Turistico?? I just snuck in the exit and no one noticed!
Ah, sneaky! We should have done the same. I’ve heard there are ways to sneak into Machu Picchu as well.