As I rode from Cusco down to Pisac, I was not prepared for the sheer size of the Sacred Valley, a region rich in Incan history and modern Quechuan culture. As the car descended dramatically to the valley floor, huge red rock cliffs and verdant mountain sides were speckled in late afternoon sunlight, as was the Urubamba River as it snaked between cornfields on its own descent to the jungles of the Amazon Basin.

Eventually the road through the Sacred Valley stops at Ollantaytambo, and now one must continue by train to reach Machu Picchu, which has made the village a major tourist stop. The main plaza of Ollantaytambo, though retaining a small town feel, seems to be perpetually in clouds of dust kicked up by massive air-conditioned tour buses carrying people on whirlwind tours of the Sacred Valley.

Which, of course, is a shame. With Awamaki based in Ollantaytambo, I was glad to have the excuse to linger longer than a few hours in this town tucked under a looming entourage of mountain peaks. Unlike Pisac, in which you hike (or taxi) from the village to the Incan ruins, the town of Ollantaytambo itself includes swatches of the original Incan city, and is, in fact, the best surviving example of Incan urban planning. The main fortress and ceremonial center occupy the western slope rising directly from the old plaza, and Incan guard towers and granaries rise from the eastern slope. To the north a road follows the Patacancha River up into the Patacancha Valley. Streams seem to flow everywhere, right through the center of town and down stone alleyways through still functioning Incan waterworks.

The fort itself, though not as daringly perched as Pisac or Machu Picchu, is fascinating in its own right, with an abundance of temples and some of the Incans most impressive stonework. The sun temple, still under construction when the Spanish arrived, used massive 30 ton red rocks quarried on a mountain side 6 kilometers away. Though it is unfortunate we can’t witness a more complete vision of the temple, Ollantaytambo gives valuable insight into the Incan building process. It was here that the Incans diverted the entire Urubamba River around the largest stones on their way to the fortress. Ollantaytambo is also famous for hosting a rare victory for the Incans in an otherwise humiliating series of losses to the Spanish, in which the river was again diverted, this time to swamp the valley as the Spanish advanced.