Aimlesswanderer's travel blogs:
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machu pichu
Entry 13 of 25 | show all | print this entry |
to start our tour on the way to machu pichu, me and andrew were picked up early, well it was supposed to be early, but in latin america,one must not count on anything happening on time, or too quickly for that matter...feeling like members of the ¨blue rinse brigade¨ (ie:our grandparents on a tour bus), we set off to visit a few of the lesser, but no less impressive ruins of pisac and ollyantantambo(sp?) for the day...the way the incans and other old cultures lived on the sides of the mountains is quite amazing...and on top of that, most of the cities are in the shape of various animals, and incorporate accurate solar and other astrological monuments...what they had figured out with out our modern technology is so impressive...
having found out previously that the 4 day inca trail trek was booked weeks in advance, we skipped that option, which meant we left the tour group at ollyantantambo (or whatever the hell it is called) to board the train to aguas calientes, which is the town at the base of machu pichu...okay, really briefly for those that might not know, machu pichu is a super important ancient incan city that was never discovered by the invading spaniards...to make up for not undergoing the 4 day trek, we skipped the bus up to the site, and walked the 2 kms to the base of the mountain, where the uphill climb began...rock steps notched into the mountain side that just seemed to go n forever...after forgetting his student id, my buddy had to run back about half a km to get it, and i thought, oh the poor bastard, but a half hour later, and at least half way up the mountain, we ran into a french girl who had forgotten her camera, and now had to go quite a ways back to the hostel..now that would have sukked...oh well, could have been worse i guess--it could have been me....
finally making it to the top, properly sweated up, we arrived at the entrance where they happily charge you 20 us dollars to get in...as if thats not enuff they try to prevent you from bringing in your own food or water...yah right, i might pay 20 more $ for lunch, and 3 for water!!!they can shove that idea right up there..........well u get the point...so in true cheapass gringo stylies, we brought our own food and water in, and proceeded to have a picnic while we watched the sun rise over the mountain and light up the temple of the sun...quite an amazing view...after that we joined a guided tour of the ruins with a bunch of aussie surfers, and had quite an entertaining day learning about the various aspects of the site...not being completely tired out yet, we tackled the neighbouring peak of huayna pichu, (after another picnic of course...haha suckas) which was an even more gruelling climb then the morning...once again, many chances of falling to your death over the shear dropp off cliffs...and without suprise, the views were once again amazing...a guy could almost get sick of breathtaking views in these countries...
in hindsight, i have concluded that maybe the spaniards did know it was there, but they just couldnt be arsed to walk all that way...if they wanna live up there, fine, but when they come down we´ll kill em all....
now the next part may seem kinda pathetic, but one of the highlights of the day had to be seeing miss peru 2003, on a photo shoot of sorts in the site...being males with a healthy appetite for attractive women, we of course had no other choice but to coincidentally bump into the photo shoot while ¨sightseeing¨...as we silently belittled and judged the silly people clammering about to take photos with the stunning beauty it dawned on me, that i knew noone here, so i owed it t myself to play ¨stupid gringo tourist ¨and get myself a pic with the fine specimen as well...ah, what a great souvenir of machu pichu...i think u can even see a wall or something in the background...going on our way, we were overtaken by her a few times on the path, and after having a few short conversations (read:blatant flirting on my part)it came to pass that she was not entirely disinterested in my proposal for the evening, and i might just see her that night in the town...
now more than anything i would love to give the boys a story here to make them proud, and i even considered making one up...but even if everything went as well as one would fantasize about, not a damn one of you would believe me anyway, so why even bother with the effort...so long story short, we did not encounter her that evening, and i would like to think it is due to the fact that she was likely staying in a nice hotel, eating at a good restaurant, while, we were in a shithole, eating the cheapest food we could find...but im sure, she´s sitting at a computer right now, typing out an email to her girlfriends, wondering what could have been had she ran into that hot canadian guy from machu pichu...
haha...now that ive got all you thinking ¨yah right stuart, in your dreams¨, i will go on to more relevant topics, that are slightly more plausible, and not so set in the fantasy world that i sometimes reside in...
an early am train ride back to olly to catch the cab to cusco, it was decided on the fly that i would trade my travel partner for an aussie couple, and we immediately headed to the bus station...getting there just in time to catch the next bus out to puno on the peruvian-bolivian border, meant that we still waited almost 30 minutes...this for the bus that was leaving ¨right now, hurry up¨...on the bus ride we were befriended by a local, who once again happened to coincidentally enuff be a travel agent...he knew of a good cheapish hotel, and signed us up for some tours around lake titicaca (one of the highestlakes in the world)...
the bus ride itself, was also quite interesting ( they always seem to be), as at one point a local women boarded with a huge tray full of baked mutton and potatoes...resisting temptation for quite awhile, while all the locals went crazy for their share i finally gave in and treated myself to some mutton ribs, local bus styles...thankfully i was only midly sick later that evening, and it passed quickly...
the tour (which of course wasnt exactly as promised-they never are) was fairly entertaining as we visited the reed islands on the lake...these are the result of human ingenuity at its finest...for 1000s of years(i think), these people have been constructing their own floating islands made entirely of grass reeds that they cut and lay down in layers continually, while the bottom submerged layers rot away slowly...years ago they used to float freely, but now they anchor them to the lake bottom...visiting these islanders in their native state would have been wicked, but as with almost everywhere on the gringo trail, the impact of our tourism is painfully evident...every island was a craft store with many women selling all the same stuff, most of it which wasnt even hand made by them, but likely coming from some distributor who seems to supply the entire country...the reed boats that they use to get around are beautiful, and i think one day i may try to ship one back on a cargo ship for the summer at the lake...without doubt, i would be the coolest guy on the lake with one of those badboys...
a side note about the start of the tour--we signed up and paid for a tour with an english speaking guide...when we got on the boat, which was blatantly not the one as promised on the brochure, the tour guide was speaking solely in spanish...now i actually prefer this because it helps me to learn a little more, and i seem to be able to understand spanish alot better than i expected would be the case on this trip...my travelling companions were not as interested in working on their spanish, as they had specifically booked this tour for the english guide...so after a few words back and forth, the guide eventually let on that he was only joking, and did speak english as well...i thought it was pretty effin funny, but they were far from impressed by his attempt at humour...
another interesting thing about this town (and a few others along the way), is that they have fooseball and pool tables set up outdoors on the streets...what they do when it rains is beyond me...well actually, they probably just pull tarps over it im sure, but then again, i never actually witnessed this...
the afternoon consisted of checking out an ancient cemetary on top of a hill completely covered in rock tombs and graves...we also ¨dropped in¨ on a local family which was quite interesting, but which was obviously a regular tourist stop and not the ¨chance¨encounter the guide was trying to bill it as...we were however, treated to some cheese, freshly roasted potatoes complete with a dipping sauce made of mud (no joke!!!)...actually it was quite tasty...well okay not really, but sort of...
im not sure if i mentioned this earlier, but one of the delicacys here is cuy, which is guinea pig...they roast it like chicken and eat those cute little childrens pets...okay, so they are not cute, they r as ugly as hell(look like rats on your plate), but they taste not that bad if they are warm...i have also eaten them cold, and they taste like shit...anyways, this house(and most others in the country) have a miniature mud house as well for their cuys to live in, and when they are hungry, they just select one, and the rest is obvious...
while i am describing other types of meat they eat here, i will also tell you about alpaca and llama steaks...i have eaten both and they are quite tasty, i think i even prefer them to beef(which isnt saying much, because im not a huge fan of beef, but)...the first time i tried alpaca tho, was a different story entirely as it was quite sour tasting, which i naively thought was just part of the taste...turns out that it was just bad...didnt get much sikker than usual, so all is well...
back to the village surrounding the cemetary hill...it was a fiesta day, and all the locals were out to warch the festivities, which consisted of a band playing out of tune (actually it sounded more like two seperate bands competing for the same listeners ears), scantily clad dancers (it was cold and windy---poor chicas), and various others dancing about as out of time as the band (they were in desperate need of a choreographer)...quite entertaining for me as a gringo on the outside...
ill leave it there for now,
hasta luego amigos
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