Beat Legs and Old Ruins

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We woke up this morning to the Argentinian girls rummaging around again, and fussing with their plastic bags which woke me up around 7am which didn’t please me. I went back to sleep for a while till around ten and then Brett and I had some breakfast at the hostel which consisted of bread, jam and butter, I also had some cheese today on mine to change things up. The guy who gave me the cheese is named Rick and he is a bro from the US. He had some money problems, his debit card was stolen and he had nothing. I load him 150 American dollars and his mom deposited the money into my bank account back in the states. I thought that was pretty good karma and he couldn’t have been happier because he was seriously wondering how he was going to keep living his life until his debit card arrived. I thought it was the right thing to do and help out this guy considering there may be a time in the future when I will need some help myself. After we made the transaction Brett and I got ready to head up to the top of the hill and the entrance to Saqsayhuaman to do our horseback riding. Marco met us at the top and we walked purchased our tickets for the sights and we began our walk to Marco’s house where he kept his horses. It was an arduous walk, we had just woken up and we were way up in the mountains so I was sucking wind the whole time. We walked up a stone path to his house that turned into grass that was lined with a small creek formed by a little waterfall we came upon. The grass turned muddy and we finally arrived at his house. We talked a little about his life and he asked us about Chicago and what it was all about. He had lived his whole life in Cusco so really hadn’t seen much of anywhere else. Our guides name was Sergio and once we got the horses saddled, we took off on this small dirt trail that led higher up in the mountains. Shortly we found ourselves in a forest of Eucalyptus trees that Sergio told us had been brought here from Australia in the 1600’s. Our horses ascended the mountain that was covered in grass and rocks and was pretty steep. The horses knew the way through the small trails and the views of Cusco and the surrounding mountains were just breathtaking. The air was so fresh and clean, I hadn’t breathed anything like it in a long time that is for sure. We could take some serious deep breaths like we hadn’t taken since we arrived in Cusco. All we could say was how amazing it was that we were doing this. The only sounds we could hear were the horses’ hooves, our breathing, and the wind when it picked up. The sun would come out and it would warm up nearly 10 degrees when this happened. But of course the sun would go away and the rain clouds would come and sprinkle us with a light rain that actually felt good when it hit us. We certainly were getting our money’s worth out of our gear. We tied the horses off at a little village we came to and then Brett and I dismounted and walked to the first ruins site called Puca Pucara, it was pretty cool and standing there on this ancient ground looking at the green hills that surrounded us was something I will never forget in my life. It was very moving. After some photos and a quick look around we made our way to the main road to walk to another site close by called Tambomachay. We had an hour before we had to return to the horses and continue down to Saqsayhuaman. Brett purchased an alpaca sweater from one of the ladies selling wares; the alpaca sweater has alpacas on it. We walked from there to the next site of Tambomachay and as we entered the sign said we were almost 12000 feet above sea level. No wonder I was sucking so much wind. We walked this path to the ruins and it was lined with another stream that was coming down from the mountains above. The water was definitely pure enough to drink. You’ll see in the photos that the ruins still have drainage spouts that were made by the Incas 1000 years ago and are still functioning. It was beautiful. Really jaw dropping. It made me wonder how amazing Macchu Picchu would be when we see it next Wednesday. We had to be back to the horses at a specific time and we were running a little short on time, and the rain started to come down a little harder so we took and auto photo (thanks German) and headed back to the horses. From here the horse took us to the Temple of the Luna which was very cool too. There was a cave inside of it with an opening to the sky above, and the cave was fairly large and dark, however we were told that the Incas put gold in the cave under the opening and when the moonlight hit the gold it would illuminate the entire cave. How cool is that!? Some local Niño’s showed us a few carvings in the cave and one of the walls that was so smooth from the precise stone work that it was fairly unreal. After this we took the horses down another path lined with Eucalyptus and at that point the horses could go no further. We walked from there down to Saqsayhuaman and explored that a little bit. We walked through a small street lined with little restaurants and some small bodegas. It is a huge site, it used to be about 4 times the current size however when the Spanish arrived in their infinite wisdom, after dominating the local people with their guns germs and steel, they started dismantling the site to make the churches and houses they lived in down in the valley in Cusco. The three levels of Saqsayhuaman represent the three levels or three worlds of the Inca beliefs, the Snake is the bottom and it represents intelligence and things past. The Puma represents strength and the present time. The Condor represents peace and the future yet to arrive. This was very cool info to learn and we actually got it from a guy who was selling some stone carvings that he made himself. I couldn’t afford the trinkets nor did I want to take it with me for fear it would break but I gave him 5 soles for his info and he took a couple photos of Brett and I. it was very nice. The stones in this site were so huge! You can see by the photos just how big they are. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. We walked back down from this site and into the city, a long way down with the sore legs I was working with. The stairs down took me longer than Brett but that’s ok since I was taking it easy, I’m on fucking vacation not in a race.  We went to the Farmacia and got some ben gay for my legs and Brett got some Ibuprofen for his headaches. Afterwards we found a pizza place near the Placa de Armas and sat down and had a proper meal. We hadn’t eaten since breakfast and we were famished!! Afterwards I had planned on coming back here and going to bed for a while but I took a shower and some meds for my legs, called my mom and dad and then got on the internet for a while. Mayra had some bad news, she won’t be here as soon as she thought and won’t arrive until next Wednesday now. She was pretty sad about it and clearly I was as well but I told her that if she arrived next Wednesday I would stay the next night as well so we could spend some time together. Now I am sitting in the hostel writing this and trying to decide what to eat for dinner. Maybe some Chifa. We got some Chifa from a place right down the way from where we were, it was very good. We enjoyed a bottle of wine with dinner which was a little more expensive than we planned but hey we dropped a lot of Plata today what’s another 30 soles. Ha. There was a Spanish guitarist at dinner and he had some good tunes so Brett gave him a few American dollars since we had no soles left. Just as dinner was ending we saw outside a stray dog, one of many that are all over the place here chewing on some guts and it smelled and was pretty repulsive. We talked on the way home about how we take so much for granted in America and how little these people really have compared to the excess that we enjoy in America. Travelling makes you truly appreciate what you have and that even when times are tough at home; times will never be as tough as they are for some people here. This is one reason I love being away from home because it humbles you, helps you to realize that which you can’t see when you’re surrounded by it in the US. We made it back to the hostel and I applied some more ben gay to my legs hoping they will heal by the time I have to hike for four days on Sunday. I am listening to a little music, talking to the Icelandic girls in the room, they are leaving tomorrow from here to go to Asia for a few months, they have to fly from here to Lima, then to Rio then to London and then to Japan. They won’t arrive in Tokyo for four days. How horrible!! They are pumped about their trip though and pretty cool chicks so it was nice talking with them. It’s now 935 at night and this is by far the earliest I have gone to bed since I got here. I am excited for the sleep. I hope all is well back in the US and as always, I love everyone and wish you well. You’ll hear from me soon.

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Comments

[em]

you guys look like mo's in this picture - but totally cute, miss you!

[dad]

wired
winning!! are we?

[whitney]

!!!
please tell brett i would like an alpaca sweater, with alpacas on it. please and thank you :)