monday, february 14, 2005 - machu picchu - 12:40pm

i am at machu picchu. i am now maybe an hour into our tour and i am more impressed every second. but seeing as the tour is in spanish (though up to now, i have understood a lot of it) i broke from the group to sit on a mysterious rock in the most mysterious of ancient cities. this place is even more stunning that i EVER thought possible.

foreground: writing rock. background: machu picchu

full recap in a little while.

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monday, february 14, 2005 - back in cusco - 11:06pm

awoke, confused at 5:45 this morning to the hotel man knocking on our door and speaking spanish. after staring at him blankly for a minute or so, olivia stepped in and figured out what he was saying. basically, our 7 am start was being pushed forward and we needed to be ready "a-hora." i took a quick shower that failed to wake me up and we rushed around to get breakfast and pack up what we would need today at machu picchu. several bad decisions were made at this point.

1) "i'm sure it will be raining there so i should take my hat. but, i have a hood on my jacket so maybe i won't take the hat." i didn't take the hat.

2) quick breakfast consisted of a piece of bread and strawberry jam. "eat light." as the book says to aid with the slight case of altitude sickness i have acquired.

3) decided against taking my day pack which i was certain would not be allowed into machu picchu. this made storage a minimum.

4) in the rush, forgot to apply deodorant.

at 6:45am promptly (for fans of the rev. jeff jones out there) we were literally "whisked away" by a nice man whose name i could never pronounce, let alone remember. he drove us out of cusco in his toyota sentry to a neighboring town to catch our train. this little jaunt was both unexpected and a delight. zipping past all manner of peruvians and quechuans (the local native people) on their way to work or wherever they were off to, a nice slice of real life here. plus, the views were unbelievable.**

anyway, mr. sentry saw us off and the train made its way north through the andes. the train ride was interesting to say the least. imagine a box full of bobble head dolls stuck in a paint mixer at your local hardware store. i felt as though derailment was imminent. it was impossible to do anything. but the view from the death express was fantastic. the closer we got to aguas calientes, the steeper the cliffs and mountains became. and a small, brown river which followed us for several hours grew into a raging, churning torrent.

we pulled into aguas calientes and were immediately met with vendors and more tourists. for the so-called off season, there sure were a ton of people there. we fought our way through the crowds and found our guide, adrael, a short man that would prove to be a great guide. we jumped on the bus and zigzagged our way up to the lost city of the incas.

despite the waiting that occurred once we got to the top, i was ready to experience a place that i've wanted to see for over a decade. while we waited, we marveled at how sunny it was. i passed around the sun block and we shed all of the unnecessary layers. it would have been nice to have a hat and a place to put my stuff.

machu picchu, or ma-pi as the call it around here, is nothing short of breathtaking. the tour was informative and relatively easy to understand*** thanks to the easy and clear spanish of adreal.

machu picchu and adrael, our fearless guide

and despite the occasional obnoxious american yelling "helen! helen! i'm over here! no! it's easier on this side!." across the sacred, echoing central plaza, it was as quiet an experience as i ever remember having .

there are no adjectives, and words cannot describe ma-pi. hopefully the 163 pictures i took will help. to see some, go here.

after the tour, we wandered a bit on our own. it was hot. and after 3 or 4 hours, it was beginning to get uncomfortable. we finally decided to head back down to the train station, look around the market and head back to cusco.

i was especially amazed at the incans' use of fiberglass ladders.

i knew i had been sweating all day, but didn't realize how much until i got the last seat on our bus. i crammed in next to these two guys. i apologized. they laughed. then i remembered not using deodorant this morning. those poor, italian bastards. strangely, the bus ride, aguas calientes and the first part of the train ride back were far more uncomfortable than the day in the sun on top of an ancient mountain. it might have had something to do with the fact the block up! brand sunscreen seems to be grossly ineffective against the sun here. i am more than feeling the first effects of sunburn on my face, head legs**** and, of all things, the backs of my hands.

so, now we are back at the hotel and after a late dinner of chinese from the joint across the street, i am very sorry to say that the nausea of altitude sickness is gone, but the pain and migraine from the sunburn has set in. I'm going to bed. hopefully tomorrow will be ailment free.

ps. 3 down...7 to go.

pps. the urabamba river kicks ass.

ppps. i broke down and had an inca cola today at aguas calientes. may God have mercy on my soul.

**the countryside here is friggin' incredible. overly-green. intensly jagged. far different than ANYTHING i have ever seen.

***we chose the spanish speaking tour over the english one. much, i think, to art's chagrin. though, i found it surprisingly easy to understand most of what our guide was saying.

****another mistake i made was removing the legs of my convertable hiking pants and then forgetting to apply sunblock to my legs, which haven't seen the sun in over 9 months.

prolouge - 1 - 2 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - epilogue