Adventures in Inca-land

Oh my goodness, its been so long! (the sign of a good traveller?) So. I hit a few lows before fleeing Chile (legally but literally...its freakin expensive!!) and arrived in Arequipa, Peru...aka heaven. We found a hostel with a third floor rooftop kitchen for next to nothing (S15/$5 a night!) where we chilled out, made art, wandered around, and made a bunch of new friends...most of whom we brought on to Cusco and Machu Picchu with us.

Cusco was cool. (Everyone else seemed to love it more than me) and Machu Picchu was MINDBLOWING! We rocked it pretty hard : ) (also I should preface this with the fact that until we even got to Cusco Tal and I were considering skipping out on MP for some supposedly just as cool, cheaper, ruins...

Step 1: in order to get to Machu Picchu most people leave from the teeny tiny (touristy) town called Aguas Caliente, only accessible by train or foot...YES PLEASE : ) I choose feet!

Back up- We took a 5 hour bus ride from Cusco (this was a horrible, bumpy, sweaty trip and a wonderful experience for Lauren's first South American busride!), got dumped in Santa Maria and took what I'm calling the best cab ride of my life about an hour to Santa Teresa (aka hydroelectrico/where the train leaves from).

(I have been demoted to stealing pictures off of the internet to illustrate my stories : (

Anyhoo, the ride was swerving, curving, along crazy mountain dirt roads, over and around the Urubamba River (often driving right through water flowing over the road from waterfalls above : ) Wind. Dust. Water. So refreshing, so South American. We got dropped at the hydroelectrico plant, bid our gold tooth taxi man farewell and set off down the tracks. (It felt kind of awesome to pass all the crazies who paid too much money for the slowest..train.....ever : ) suckas!)

The walk was 2-3 hours along the river. So beautiful! It was the first time (and sadly the only) in this whole South American adventure where I really got to feel the essence of the jungle. (I know its nothing compared to the real thing.) There were lots of crazy flowers, and crazier bugs, and we had a good walking crew...Tal, other Lindsey, Coco, and I : ) We ended up walking a little bit in the dark and came across a soccer game in what felt like the middle of nowhere, (Coco got some awesome photos, maybe he will let me post some later) and got to see the glow of Aguas Calientes between the mountains on our way in...imagine Emerald City at night : ) *sigh* Once in town we found the rest of the gang, (Lauren, Luke, and Mauricio) who had already found us the cheapest hostel in town as well as downed a few pisco sours and cerveza while waiting for us : ) (the upside to taking the train!)

Step 2: Only the first 400 people into the MP gate get passes to hike to Waynu Picchu, the higher, smaller area that allows insane views of MP as well as the mountains!

Gates open at 5am, so we were out of the hostel by 4. I don't think any of us really understood what was about to happen but basically you get in a line at the bottom of the mountain and at 5 they open the gate and you race (literally) to the top. This is a seriously tall mountain and the whole hike is up Incan stairs...some were probably 2 feet high! It was a very weird experience. Hundreds of people, wearing their headlamps, are climbing in near-silence, as fast as they can without falling over, while the sun is coming up. It was also odd, socially, because everyone was from everywhere. Even if you wanted to make a small comment, 'shit this is hard,' or 'oh my god, look at the sky' there was no way to know what language to say it in!  We all got a little seperated and I got a whole moment or two alone, stopped, standing on these stairs at sunrise, to look around and take in the veiw. These are some of the most beautiful mountains I've ever seen. Super green. Tall. They kind of look like gumdrops or something from Mario Brothers : )

We all made it in the first 200 (toldja we rocked it :) We got a mini-tour right of the bat, got the layout and some background info, and went straight to the nearest grassy area for a nap! Lazy bums. I remember waking up and before my eyes were open hearing someone say, 'Why would you come to Machu Picchu and take a nap...jeez!' and then feeling a bump on my knee. I opened my eyes to find a huge brown alpaca standing over me...I think that's the fastest I have ever moved upon waking : ) The four of us (the boys ditched us for wandering by this point) got up pretty freakin' quick while one of the bigger alpacas paced back and forth on the level above getting ready to jump. (I still think it was trying to jump ON us.)

Step 3: Do all of the things we said we would.

We wandered for a bit and then headed to the Waynu Picchu entrance for our 10am entry. This was probably the hardest part of the day...more Incan stairs this time pretty much straight up.

(more stolen photos...Waynu Picchu is that tall mountain directly behind on the right...Machu means big, Waynu means small! And, it turns out Machu Picchu is actually an even bigger mountain behind the photographer here...not as steep but definitely bigger. I am still confused as to what this whole middle area is called...guess I should have tried to be more awake on the tour.)

SO...we hiked up Waynu, chilled out, ate peanuts, wrote and drew, and wandered around...I think this is where I really began to appreciate the absurd and the awesomeness of the whole place. 1. These mountains are a wonder in themselves. 2. What human was wandering around the mountaintops and came up with the brilliant idea to move the whole crew up there? (I obviously have some reading to do!) I (along with Other Lindsey and Tal) have a new goal of finding a mountain where we can build a city that no one from below can see. We will live our life by the stars and never ever come back down. Also, one of the most facinating things to me about MP is that there is STILL running water! The Incans re-routed (?) the water flow from nearby water sources and built a sort of gutter through the whole town, most of which are still trickling. Crazy.

And so, the day went on, visitors came and went, Tal, Linz, and I decided to split up and wander on our own and then meet at the end of the Sun Gate trail. A relaxing upwards (but no stairs!) hike on the other side of the main area.

(you can see the trail on the left and this photo is taken from the end, thats the main area and Waynu is the mountain that just got cut off in the photo)

This is where the folks who do the 4 day Inca Trail hike arrive and we got the opportunity to welcome three groups to the end of their journey! (Tal and I are very good at this! Lots of clapping and hooray is the same in every language : ) It was cool to witness the arrivals from such an intense trek. We also got to watch the park clear out (we waited awhile for other Lindsey, she nodded off while relaxing down below : ). By the time we headed back down pretty much everyone else had left and we stopped about halfway down to sit and admire the whole place in its natural state. Vacant.

To finish the day strong, we opted to walk back down the mountain at sunset. We were joined by some horrible mosquitoes and ended up getting back into Aguas after the sun set again...making the whole trip last over 12 hours. We never saw Aguas Caliente in daylight : ) I kinda like it that way...

The whole gang pretty much crashed after dinner, making our last night together kind of a flop. But we had some good goodbyes in the morning and all went our separate ways...Lauren, Natalia, and mine was back along the railroad tracks, back to Santa Teresa by cab, and then, teaming up with other travellers stranded due to Peruvian election day, took the most uncomfortable, un-sleepable, un-readable, nothing to do but hold onto the door handle, ride back to Cusco. : )

(I didn't plan this but this is the perfect lead-in to my next, half-written post about FOOD!)

ELECTION NIGHT IN CUSCO! Everybody was out! Selling handicrafts, food, playing games...Lauren brought a list of food that she had read about and this is about where they started showing up...duh duh duh...

(I'm doing two closings here...kinda like choose your own adventure : )

Today is Monday. Tomorrow is Tuesday, my last day in Lima. My last day in South America. While hanging out in a cafe after dinner tonight, listening, and people watching, it dawned on me that I'm pretty much done living the spanish speaking lifestyle for a bit. So sad! (more to come: thoughts on language and communication : )