Blogs from Aguas Calientes, Cusco, Peru, South America - page 12

Mon 7th Nov. Can´t begin to describe the sights from the bus on the way to Cusco, just so very different from anywhere else. Wide dirt tracks for side roads and tons of people, tck tcks, etc. A bit of a panic when Jim and others got off the bus to buy some water and it took off without them, but it did turn round eventually. No surprise when the bus broke down (Ormeño Company NOT recommended) and we arrived at Cusco at midnight. Everywhere was closed, hotel not very good so first impressions were guarded. Tues. Found a lovely hotel with 2 balconies overlooking guess whet, so we´re back on track again. Beautiful city, narrow cobbled streets, surrounded by mountains, good cheap meals and good wine at 2.50 a bottle. Recommended restaurant - Inkaria, at ... read more

Sorry for the delay. I think when I last wrote, I was crawling on the floor to a bathroom that had no water in order to get sick. My experience with the Peruvian healthcare system was, well maybe we should we just call it "special". It was comprised of a morning at school, stretched out on 5 chairs pushed together for my exam. I then wandered around looking for a lab to deliver my "specimen". My first parasite. I was excited. It's like the Red Badge of Courage for those in development work. As my final week of classes drew to a close, I was sadder and sadder. But David arrived on Saturday morning. My host dad took me to the airport to pick him up. David didn't get off the plane and he didn't get ... read more

I was up at 4:30 in the morning, but I didn’t care because today, I got to see Machu Picchu! While eating breakfast, Amie and I got to watch the Pope’s funeral live (who they call Papa in Spanish), and there were others in our hotel who woke up early to witness it. We caught a train to Aguas Caliente where we met up with our guide for Machu Picchu. Our guide was great. He had a pattern. He would tell us the name of something, and then say, “What is the meaning of this? I tell you.” As we walked around Machu Picchu, there was a tour in every language. People come from all over the world to see Machu Picchu, but because of so many visitors (over 2000 daily), they might have to close ... read more

Life has been a series of circular references - start at one place, go for some period of time - say 5 or 20 years, and select a place... then return to the place and evaluatewhere you have been and what you have done during the period of time... A long time ago, in a life far away - i was in machupicchu - the capital city of the Inca empire. back then, the train would leave cusco, and it semed it went for a long time until it reached machupicchu - well, it kind of did go for almost four hours. on arrival to the train depot - everything had changed - as people and places have a tendancy of doing over time. The once rustic train depot has become a city called aguas calientes ... read more