Back again

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Sorry for the wait, We´ve been in the jungle!
Crazy. Everything you may have heard, snakes, tarantulas, crocodiles (caymans), parrots, flowers of which I cant remember the names, mosquitos. Plants that we have in our houses are all in the jungle only HUGE and flowering. There was also alot of smoke. The plane could barely land due to smoke. I guess they burn crops at certain times of year and its pretty thick. Off the plane we went thru a village of 40,000 people. Sounds crazy. Mostly motorcycles and walking, markets, and we even saw a disco (for tourists). Then we took a skiff to our accomodation. Huts in the jungle with mosquitos nets. This was luxury living. We had generated power and running water between 10am and 7pm. And beds in our huts. And it was sooooo hot. Our clothes were instantly wet and stayed that way. Two days later we boarded the flight to Cusco, (if it could land in the smoke, which it did) which is 13,000 feet. I didn´t think i would get this altitude sickness that I´d read about but it sure hit. Symtoms- headache and fatigue (cud be more) It took a couple of hours but yea, it hit. First of all the city (40,000 people) is undescribeably cool. Its all red. On the approach to landing the pilot came around and it looked like a red mud town. Crazy. It has all cobblestone streets, narrow, narrow streets, only 2 traffic lights (that we saw), taxis cost 25cents for 4 people, lots of coco shops (all legal of course) the pop is flat, and the whole city is made of huge stones. Maybe the whole country is made of these huge stones. That and red mud bricks. Anyway, now to the hotel - our group probably all had altitude sickness and our transport could only get us part way to the hotel, so we wlked uphill to our hotel, then our room was 161 steps up. This took forever to get up to our room. Very, very slow moving (it reminds me of climbing Mt Eversest - or watching people do it) We spent a couple of days in Cusco then took a bus to Chinchero (part way to Machu Picchu) switchbacking down the mountain. (Good thing is the altitude sickness went away) and visited a typical rural Andean family and had lunch at their house. They showed us how they cleaned, colored and wove the alpaca wool. Also, they cooked us pototoes in a mud oven outside, their agricultural methods (100 years old at least) traditional dancing, lots of potatoe dishes, guinnea pig (a delicacy), 2 dogs *****, and did I mention potatoes!
Now we are in a town called Ollantaytambo and this morning we are taking a train to base camp. Maybe we´ll have a few potatoes along the way, who knows. Then Machu Picchu.
Adios,
Jo and Jo

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