DAY #5 - Macchu Picchu

To say that today was a long and tiring day might be the understatement of the century. I'm doing everything I can to sit upright, stay awake long enough to type this, and take a shower. Hopefully I make it :) I know I'll miss some of the day's stories, so I'll reread this tomorrow and add as needed.

My day started out simply enough, 7:00 am local time. What was I looking forward to? A nice warm shower. Do 17th century montassori's have hot water? No. Do they have hot water in 2009? Nope. So, I rinsed off the best I good between the ice chuncks and got dressed.

The 20 minute tax ride from here to the train station was eventless. It was a pretty drive, through the outskirts of Cusco and into a small town of Poroy. I arrived just in time to get on the train and we chugged out of the station. Now, PeruRail runs on time when it comes to departure. It, however, does not run on time when it comes to arrivals. Our two hour ride took just over 3 1/2 hours. Of those 3 1/2 hours, only the last 1/2 hour was worth looking out the window. It was pretty, don't get me wrong. But once you've seen one phesant tending her crop or cows, you've seen them all.

PeruRail runs its trains between walk and slow job. I'm not sure if it's because of the tracks, or because of the trains themselves, but we were passed on occasion by cows. Big, ugly, nasty Peruvian cows. They must have thought we were standing still.

The train ride was nice, but I'm going to complain a little. Next to me were two couples, both from the United States. They talked the entire time. THE ENTIRE TIME. And they weren't philosophsying about the history of the world. No. They were talking about the most useless of junk. Even the old Peruvian lady sitting across from me, who I know spoke no English, was pissed. It was just plain annoying. Now, I tend to be a bit negative sometimes around people, and I tend to let it really piss me off (yes, I was still pissed off). But in this 3 plus hour ride, I developed my own take on talking. I'm going to save that for tomorrow during my 7 hour layover in the airport, but you should look forward to that one :)

The last 1/2 hour was gorgeous. Rushing river, jungle like surroundings, insanely tall mountains. You travel in this huge ravine and the mountains around you must be 2500 feet tall. Amazing. I could post a million pictures and it wouldn't do it justice.

Upon arrival in the village below Macchu Picchu, we all got off the train and I scrambled to find the buses because there are NO MARKINGS WHATSOEVER! I finally found the buses, paid for my ticket and up the hill we went. The ride took about 20 minutes and we went a hell of a lot faster than the train did. Wow. The road is mostly one lane, drop off on the side and no forgiveness. I never closed my eyes, but I thought about it.

We arrived at Macchu Picchu without falling off, and the picture taking began. I took somewhere over 200 pictures, and I'm going to show you every last one of them (just kidding). You go through an entry gate and pay the fee, which is pretty expensive. You round the corner on the trail and there it is (well, part of it). It was amazing to see (for about the first 45 minutes).

I spent the morning walking around pretty much every inch of the area. Now, mind you, at 8000 plus feet in elevation, walking up and down isn't as easy as it is at, say, the ocean. I'd take three steps, stop. Take three steps, stop. It took a long time to cover ground like that. I ventured, I took pictures, I rest, and it started again. All this time, it was lightly misting. Around an hour into my trek, it turned into a downpour. I was soaked. I caught some last good pictures, and I was off to find "lunch".

I had read the the ritzy buffet in the lodge was good, so I partook. It was $33.00 American, and not worth a tenth of that. But, at century old ruins, who will complain? :) I, unforuntatly, have since found out that the water there was not cleansed and am paying the concequences. To add to that, I forgot to pack that as part of my travel medical arsenal. But, I'll be fine.

As I finished up lunch, the sun came out and so did I. I was ready for another climb, rest, climb around the ruins. First, I hit the bathroom. Now, the bathroom at Macchu Picchu costs 1 soles. I had a pocket full of them and having braved it before heading off the first time, it was old hat. As I walked in, this older gentleman (60 plus?), an American tourist, was trying to enter and he and the young gal managing the station were having a breakdown in communication. She said 1 soles, please. And he said, "what?". And she said, "1 soles please", and he said "what?". So, I paid his way in. About 1/2 way down the hall, he said to me "Thank you son, I had no idea what the hell that gal was asking me". :) Having been in the same situation about 20,000 times here in Peru, I understood completely.

I made it out into the ruins and sunshine again, and had a blast. I sweated to death, but had a blast. I took a million more pictures and hit the road.

Now, let me tell you about Macchu Picchu. Very nice, glad I went, wouldn't have missed it, probably don't need to go back. It was amazing, and the engineer in me was like "they did what with rocks? Holy cow!". Of course, everything they tell about thus being the guardhouse and that being the sacred stone is hypothesized because no one is around to tell you. They're all gone, and probably because they built a city in the mountains in the middle of %##$%@%! I'm glad I went, I can't describe what I say, the pictures will say it all. I will say two thing: (1) The Inca's who built Macchu Picchu were not afraid of heights, not one ounce, and (2) the current day Peruvians do not believe in safety. At all. I could have walked right off the side of a 1000 foot cliff with no warning. No robes, no signs, no nothing. They must think if you're stupid enough to do it, you deserve to die. Maybe some people do.

Lastly, Macchu Picchu would be awesome with you and 20 of your closest friends. Not so fun with 2999 other people, many of which shouldn't be there. Please don't take any offense, but if you're over 70, if you need a cane, or if you don't normally scale ancient ruins, you shouldn't be there. I could have covered twice as much ground if it weren't for tour groups and old people. I do, very much, have a new appreciation though. When someone stops in front of you at the mall, and you're like "come on!", its a little different than when someone stops in front of you at 8000 feet on a two foot wide path with a 50 foot drop off the side. I'll be more kind at the mall from now on :)

Alright, I know, wrap it up. I rested a little bit in the village, got on the train and headed out. Our two hour trip back was over three because the engine broke down and they had to bring out another one. I'm thinking about writing a strongly worded letter :)

I made it back to town, rockslide on the road and all (again, awesome Peruvian taxi driving). I was able to talk to Spencer for a couple of minutes, which was awesome. Spencer, you won't remember this, but you were more enticed by the phone than me and you hung up on me :)

I grabbed some dinner in a resteruant closeby and came back here to type away. There. My day in a very long nutshell. Hope you enjoyed, I did (believe it or not).