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Published: March 23rd 2006
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Sorry for the delay!
Melia and I had a great trip to Machu Picchu this past weekend!!! We finished our school on Friday and then had a birthday lunch with our host family. It was our madre (here in Cusco, Lucia) Judi´s birthday. There was quite a feast. As with most things here in Peru it involved Coca Cola. Melia´s professora still thinks that there is actual cocaine in the Coke. If you are sick have some Coke and you will feel better. A big night out have some Coke and enjoy the evening. Thirsty have some C..... Well we had a very interesting meatloaf that was specially made for Judi´s Birthday. It was a meatloaf with extra meat, bacon, eggs, and sausage on top of the usual ground beef. It tasted a little bit sweet. Why you ask...... as with everything the meatloaf was marinated in COKE!!!!! Melia and I gracefully ate our portions and enjoyed the rest of the food which was wonderful!!!
We skipped desert and headed for the bus station. We took a 2 hour bus from Cusco to Ollantaytambo. It was a direct bus which means whenever someone on the side of the road flags down
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Mystical Fog view from our hotel in MP the bus you stop and pile on more people. As with most buses here they are not made for individuals over 5 foot 7 inches. However, riding the bus is the best way to see the countryside and experience life with the people here in Peru. The people are extremely nice and very friendly.
Upon arrival to Ollantaytambo, Melia and I had dinner in a restaurant all by ourselves. The town was a bit dead in the evening. Then we headed for the train to Aguas Calientes (the base town for Machu Picchu). It was dark out but you could see the mountains outlined by the moonlight. It is a beautiful train ride because it follows the Urubamba river. We sat opposite (think the first row on a plane on Southwest) a mother and son from the East Coast who were very interesting. They didn´t talk to us at all even though we were less than a foot opposite their faces, and from their conversations it sounded like this was the first time they had been arround each other in years. He was a modern day vagabound travelling the globe doing what he had to do to survive (petty theft,
fraud, hopping on trains all over the world) and she was a well connected traveller who did not approve of his stories. Upon arrival at 10:40 at night on Friday, Melia and I found a hotel to stay in. It was a large triple room with a queen and a single bed and had a nice balcony which looked out onto the center square of Aguas Calientes. It is the slow season here so while the prices are still touristy (American), we got the room for 1/2 off. Melia and I went to bed ready to get up at 4:30 am to catch the first bus 5:30 am up the mountain to MP to see the sunrise. With visions of inca ruins in our minds we fast went to sleep............
Around 3:00am Melia and I awoke to sounds of Seattle........rain!! It was our first significant rain of the trip. At 4:30 a.m. we were both exhausted and it was still raining so we decided to sleep in and try and wait out the rain since clearly there would be no sunrise! By 6:30 with no signs of rain letting up we decided it was now or never so we headed
for the bus. After purchasing the bus tickets we got on the bus up the mountain. The bus drivers are very skilled as the driver drove the bus as fast as he could (read too fast) up the muddy slippery switchbacks up to MP. This is basically a one way road where the bus drivers break hard when they see another bus coming and one of them gets close to the mountain the other gets close to the edge of the mountain and they pass within a foot or two of each other.
After arriving safely we were gung ho to get going before the crowds formed. We went to buy the tickets only to find out that the tickets were in Peruvian Soles not USD as the guide book said. They weren´t able to make change but fortunately they took a combination of Peruvian Soles and USD. This after the bus up the hill only took USD..........
As soon as we had purchased our tickets the skies opened up and it started pouring. We sought shelter under the umbrellas of the snack shack with other visitors. After a 40 minute rain timeout Melia and I purchased gotcha! priced ponchos
but still very very cheap and headed into the ruins before the tour groups showed up......
The ruins were amazing!!!!! It´s incredible to think about how the Incas were able to build structures on top of the mountains, let alone the intricate structures and walling that the INCA´s did. The famous mountain would dissapear in the fog/mist and then reappear minutes later. We both felt like we were in a scene from Gorrillas in the Mist. It was a great day even though it was raining. In some ways I think it was better because the landscape was constantly changing. During our 5 hours there the rain let up. Melia and I hiked on the edge of the mountain out toward the Inca Bridge for 30 minutes or so and were amazed at the mountains and river valley below. It´s imposssible to describe the mountains but in many ways the jungle mountains were as mystical to me as the ruins themselves. After the hike we hiked through all of the ruins. By the end, the tour groups had showed up and were everywhere at the popular points in the ruins. The popularity of MP has grown greatly since Melia was
last here two years ago.
After we had seen all we could, we headed back down the mountain and had a great lunch at Indio Feliz, a restaraunt that Lucia, Ann, and Melia had visited two years ago. It was great as we were very hungry after hiking all day. We grabbed a couple of Cusquena´s (local beer very good) and headed back for the porch off our room. We played cards and watched the people in the square. That night we ate pizza with palm hearts, which is a favorite of Melia. The next morning we were up at 4:30 to catch the 5:20 am train back to Ollantaytambo. We arrived and had a great breakfast in the city. The owners were very nice and let us store our backpack at the restaraunt while we spent the day exploring the ruins. It was of course a beautiful sunny day on Sunday! The ruins were really amazing as well. We spent half a day exploring them and relaxing by a small stream we found. Then we headed back to Cusco via one collectivo taxi, and one bus. On the bus I got the luxury of having a "jump seat" which
was great because I could stretch out my legs.
This week we have been studying hard and continue to learn (Bryan) and improve (Melia) our spanish. Tonight we are heading out to the Thursday night dinner with other students and a disco afterwards. We hope that all is well with you as well!!!!
(Some of you have sent emails concerned that we were involved in the horrible bus accident in Chile. Thanks for checking in on us. Our heart goes out to the families affected.)
Enjoy the photos! We are working on our trip beyond Cusco and will keep you posted.
Bryan y Melia
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Pops
non-member comment
What great photographers you are. Wonderful to see. Yes the Inca princess and huby are doing it right! Love you both, Pops