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Marisa and Macchu Picchu

Meeting Marisa here in Peru was a great way to spend time as Marisa and I have a sort of family history here. Our mother and grandparents lived her for a while and we still have some family of sorts that lives in Lima. In fact, our aunt Edith has arranged for us to stay at her husbands hotel for very cheap, which will in fact be a luxury suite compared to the places we have been staying, oh yeah except for colombia. Anyhoo marisa and I apparently do not just share genes we also have share reactions to food or germs of some sort. I got a very nasty 24 hour stomach bug when I arrived into Lima, and accordingly Marisa contracted a similar bug a few days later in Cusco, needless to say, it wasnt fun, but it was nice to have her around to take care of me (and vice versa I hope). 

From Lima we went to Cusco, the main city in the sacred valley (which was the concentration of power for the Incan empire in the 15th century). Cusco is a big city with a very serious tourism industry, but since it is a very old city, with a mix of both 16th century colonial spanish architechture and some of the original incan architechture, it feels very authentic (which it is). It is also at an elevation of about 13,000 ft. so when one arrives by plane from lima (sea level) one can be affected by the altitude. Accordingly, you stay hydrated, rest, and consume coca. Now dont worry coca, the plant which is used to create cocaine, is not illegal nor mind altering in its plant state, but rather is an extremely pleasant cure for a hurting stomach, headache, and fatigue. Its a lot like coffe, but it didnt seem to make me jittery. Anyhoo we took our coca in tea form, along with some coca biscuits, coca chocolates, and a friendly game of bilingual scrabble. Overall a very pleasant experience. In any case, we didnt come to cusco for the altitude or the coca. We came to see Inca ruins which abound here

So our next day we took a tour of many of the ruins surronding Cusco, we visited a former temple, a city, and a tiny town way high up in the mountains (almost the tundra). Overall I was much immpressed with both the state of the ruins and also with sites themselves. When the Incans were actually around they must have been an impressive group. They were conquerers who would respect your culture if you peacefully submitted or completely obliterate you if you resisted. they built their cities high up into the mountains, exhibting impressive skills in civil engineering (they moved 40 ton stones several kilometers up and down mts),  and they had some very complex religious rituals, which often had to to do with the observation of astronomical phenomenon. Anyhoo reguardless of all these things, the most impressive thing in the entire sacred valley is Machhu Picchu.

In order to get to macchu picchu we took a four hour train ride to a horrendous place called aguas caliente, horrendous because the place only exists as a weigh station for the ridiculous number of tourists that want to visit macchu picchu. Accordingly, the placce is the definition of tourist trap and you literally cannot walk down the street without several people pitching you a great deal which is in fact horrendously expensive (for peru). Putting up with Aguas calientes is worth putting up with for a night so that you can make the early morning trek up to machu pichu (since its the rainy season now yuo have to go in the morning as it rains almost every afternoon). We began our hike at about 7 am and by 845 we had made up the side of a mt and to the entrance to the site. Once you gain entrance you suddenly understand what all the hubbub is about here. AS I am always a doubter of famous landmarks, I will assure you that Machu picchu is worth the visit. It is beautifully preserved, and stunning in many senses of the word.The place literally takes up the entire mountain top, any room to spare does not exist and the sides of the mountain are not just steep, they are practically sheer faces. the reason that it went undiscoverd by westerners for so many years is that without a good trail (built by modern hands) it must have been extremely difficult to get up to. We walked around, took pictures, and marvelled at how impressive the entire place is. I thought to myself that it was incredible the natural splendor that these people lived in, I cant describe it too well, but seeing the city from its heights and among its surrondings makes your gasp for air (and this is not due to altitude) Every single human being should see this place.   

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