We arrieved in cusco and took our train to aguas calientes, the ride was long and uncomfortable. The ticket for myself, as a peruvian was $10 roundtrip, foreigner paid $57 for the backpacker, which is the cheapest.  We bouth those tickets from an agency, the commission was like $5, so it was worth it. By the time we arrieved in Aguas Calientes or Machupicchu Pueblo, the pounding in my head was gone.  I was finally able to enjoy myself a bit better. This town is the closest you can get to machupicchu for a reasonable price. It is still pricier than Cusco, though, it is very alive and full of tourist. We stayed at Wirachocha Inn, they had a double for $30 and the lady was very nice.  The rooms are located starting in the second floor.  They were very clean, had hot water and mine had a nice view. The front desk people were very kind and nice.
We decided to stay in aguas mostly because it is only about 20 minutes away from machupicchu. We took the earliest bus (the tickets were sold in aguas) and were the first ones to entered. It was just amazing! a bit cold, but wow! this place is really something else. It doesn't matter what people tell you, or pictures you've seen, to experience it, is out of this world.
Also, if you are up for the challenge, there's Huayna Picchu, a mountain from where you can see Machu Picchu, so yeah, it is higher than MachuPicchu. The climb there is tough and kinda scary.  I got tired pretty fast but my 74 yr. old father kept going till the top, resting only once,  this is well worth it, the view is amazing from here. That's actually where I saw Cameron Diaz at the entrace of Huayna Picchu, she was ahead of us with a bunch of police officers and crew filming something.
This trip was just amazing, there are no words to describe it.

     They Sacred Valley was our destination today, with stops at the market in Pisac, and the ruins at Ollantaytambo.  Our itinerary began with a visit to an alpaca farm.  They also housed llamas and vicunas and schooled us in the differences.  Interesting creatures!  They spit, smell, and seem to eat all the time.  How do such nasty animals create such incredible wool?  The patterns that the locals wove were amazing.  Several children were weaving blankets and table runners.  I guess they were skipping school that day????
    We continued on to Pisac, but on the way we stopped for a panoramic view of the Sacred Valley.  In a word, beautiful!  Remnants of long-forgotten terraces were visible on several mountain slopes.  I almost imagined I could see the Inca working their fields.
    The market in Pisac was impressive.  One could explore to their hearts content, with shopping ranging from a combination of small up-scale shops to simply open-air stalls.  Jewelry, blankets, and various knick-knacks were in abundance.  Many stalls were preparing and selling a type of maize or corn-on-the-cob.  The kernels were the size of marbles!  I probably should have tried it, but was determined to take no chances with my health.  Can you imagine waiting 40 years to see Machu Picchu and then getting Montezuma's revenge????
    We left Pisac and were bound for Ollantaytambo, but first stopped for lunch at an incredible buffet in the middle of nowhere!  It was served outside and the food was heavenly.  I wish I could remember it's location or the name.  It was like a hidden oasis just off the main road.

Back when cable t.v. didn’t exist in our house, our favorite past time was sitting in our laundry basket pretending it was a raft on the Amazon.  I sat in front wearing a Hawaiian hat I won guessing the number of pumpkin seeds in the jar at school, while holding our Peter Pan book open to the first page that had a map of Never Never Land (even then I was the navigator).  Jen sat behind me and pretended to steer the boat.  We were on safari in the jungle. 

Fast forward over 20 years and there we were, Jen and I on a makeshift raft of wood with water leaking between the logs, while we floated around a lake in the Amazon Basin, bird watching in the jungle.  It would be the highlight for me of our time in the jungle.

We set out before the sun rose for what would be eight hours of journey, starting in Cusco, making our way down to the cloud forest in the Manu National Park.  This time on the trip we had four other Americans, a couple from Washington and a mother and daughter from Colorado.  We stopped along the way in a Colonial town called Paucartambo to pick up bread, and also made stops along the route to grab pictures of flowers, birds and waterfalls, then onto San Pedro to stop for the first night in a jungle lodge.  The next morning we got up at an obscene hour to watch the Cock of the Rock, Peru´s National bird, from a nearby landing.  They are beautiful red birds (at least the males are), and we were lucky enough to see three or four.  Then we set out again, heading into the rainforest and lower elevations, which mean heat and humidity. We stopped in Pilcopata where we geared up for a rafting adventure to our next stop.  I long ago swore off rafting after my near death experience on the Zambezi, but this was a milder version and only an hour long.  It was actually quite peaceful.  After an hour, we hit a small town to grab our motorboat to our next lodge along the river in the jungle.   By then it was about 11:30 a.m. and I spied up a cerveza sign at a nearby shop, so I told Jen I was going to grab us a couple for the journey onward.  I asked the shop lady for dos cervezas and she pulled out a liter bottle, so I yelled to Jen they were huge, but she said to get two.  I figured we had two days at the lodge, so I walked out with one open and the other in the bag, and the mother in the group looked at me puzzled and said, ¨Did you just buy a giant beer?¨ Yes, yes, I did.

We sipped on that during the next 30 minutes downstream to our lodge.  The place was right on the riverbank, with lots of comfy couches and swinging chairs for relaxation.  We had lunch and then a siesta before our jungle walk.  We set out about 4:30 clad in rubber rain boats to ease our time through the jungle mud, water and muck.  I love the jungle.  Many times I´ve been to zoos in my hometown that have a sort of greenhouse for tropical plants, with birds flying about and moist air. But here I was, actually in the jungle, where many plants and animals I´d never seen before call home.  There were also many sounds I´d never heard before.  The most interesting thing I saw that walk was what I didn´t see.  I was in the back of the pack, walking along slowly, and I stopped and heard what sounded like heavy breathing coming from the bush.  At first I thought, I´ll wait and see what comes out as everyone by then had gone ahead.  However, I started to hear something rustling, and it didn´t sound small, so I abandoned this effort and fled, catching up to Jen, panting with excitement.  Something was out there!  She shrugged me off as hallucinatory, and we kept on our walk until darkness.   Jen remarked how she´d never seen such darkness outside of our spelunking adventure some years back.  There was only electricity from 6 to 9 p.m. each night at the lodge, and after that, pure dark and this feeling you were being watched.  All sorts of sounds emitted from the surrounding jungle.  Luckily our early wake-up each morning helped me slumber peacefully.

Speaking of, the next morning we got up at about 5:30 to head out by boat to check out the parrots along the riverbank at clay licks.  Every two days they must eat clay in order to ingest minerals and salt to supplement their diet of seeds and fruits.  We sat along with a group of researchers as various parrot species fluttered about in groups along the opposite side of the riverbank, finally grouping along the clay wall for roughly 20 minutes. 

We headed back for breakfast and then suited up for our next activity – a canopy tour.  I wasn´t sure what to expect for this one.  I´d done some high wire tree stuff in a workshop, but that was a different beast.  We hiked up for about 45 minutes until we reached a platform in a tree.  We strapped on gear around our legs that included a pulley and some caribiners and climbed up to the platform.  The one gal in our group struggled her way into the leg straps, remarking over and over that she was ¨gordo.¨   I finally could take no more and corrected her by saying ¨gorda¨ and one of our guides said, you should say ¨Estoy gorda.¨  None of this Spanish lesson helped get her to commit to this activity. We all eagerly got strapped to the zip line (mom even went first) and swung over the jungle to the next platform, leaving her quivering in fear behind.  Her husband was not terribly concerned.  It was actually really fun. We only had four lines and five platforms, but it gave you a good view of the jungle and a little adrenaline rush before lunch.  On the walk back to the lodge, we caught sight of a family of monkeys sleeping high above us in the trees.  They noticed us watching them and the little one peered down at us from the safety of his mother´s arms.

After lunch and a siesta (and figuring out how to sink giant beer number 2 in the river to cool it for later), we jumped in the boat again to head upstream to walk to a nearby lake for bird watching.  We had to walk through some swampy areas over fallen trees and logs, careful not to get stuck in mud, and then we reached what was more like a pond, called House of the Old Man, or something like that translated from Quechua.  I saw a raft made out of logs and asked right away if we could take that, and our guide promised us we would.  He spotted some birds for us and then was off, returning shortly with a different raft for us to embark on.  Jen and I jumped in front, and we slowly glided along the water, spying all sorts of birds (I don´t remember names) busily getting ready for a night´s sleep as the sun set.  It was so amazing, and I absolutely enjoyed the feeling of being out on the water, surrounded by jungle.  Sadly it was a quick trip and soon enough we were back at our lodge for the night.

We only had time for and could afford a four day/three night jungle trip, but I wish we had done more. I so loved being in the jungle.  I admittedly had enough of organized tours, but to just find a lodge out there somewhere to spend a week walking through the jungle, with plenty of time to chill and read, would´ve been perfect.  But it was not to be.  Instead, our time quickly came to an end and we were back in the motorboat making our way upstream, which proved to be an adventure in itself.  It is the dry season so the water is at its lowest, which means some very shallow parts.  Our guide remarked that we may have to get out and help push the boat, but we were certain this was some sort of joke.  It was not.  At one point we had to cross over some rocky shallows. Two boats in front picked spots to give it a try, quickly getting stuck and requiring everyone to disembark and help a hand.  Our boat was just Jen and I and the mother and daughter as the couple left the night before, but we had lots of staff in our boat who insisted we needed to do nothing to help.  They all stripped down to their undies and jumped in and gave it a push as the motorman gave it his best, all to no avail.  We finally jumped out onto an island in the middle of the river while the guys all got out to push.  Jen was eager to help, insisting she was going on to help push, and I, ever the older sister in actions only, forbid her.  The guys finally gave up and let the boat float backwards, and then gave it another go in a different spot.  After 30 minutes stuck on this island, they finally came over to us and helped us tip toe over rocks underwater to our boat.  Off we went, making our way to the small town on the banks where we were to catch our bus out of the jungle surrounds.  Fifteen hours, a flat tire and many bathroom stops after we left our lodge, we finally hit Cusco at about midnight, greeting sleepy Sergio at Hostal Rojas, our home base while here in town. 

I can´t believe it. My final adventure is done.  Well, I have four days before I fly home, and I´m trying to enjoy every last second, but it is hard with the impending leave date closing in on me.  I feel like I could carry on, maybe hit up Bolivia next, and keep making my way around South American indefinitely.  I´m in denial, however.  Aside from the lack of funds, I am admittedly tired.  I feel bad because every home stay, every waterfall, every flower is new and exciting to my sister, yet I find myself numb to it all at times.  It´s time to go home.  Not only that, but everything is wearing down and running out.  My iPod works on a whim, my rechargeable batteries I´ve had since Prague will no longer charge, my swim suit top broke while rafting two days ago, my backpack is screaming for a repair, all my toiletries have run dry and my camera, well, it just needs a break.  So I hate to admit it, but I am finally to the point of running on fumes…those fumes of glory I predicted I´d come home on. 

But hey, four days…I have four days!  I will enjoy them.  I will tap out one more entry before I leave in case something of note happens in those wonderful four days.  But first, a final 20 hour bus journey to my last destination, Lima.    

Viento Sur is run out of the Sol y Luna Lodge in Urubamba, Peru. My guidebook listed it as being run by two Swiss owners who really specialized in the tours they offered. I went to Urubamba, specifically to spend some serious cash with these professionals. Horseback riding, paragliding, tours of the valley, I was prepared to do it all. I wasn't staying at the lodge because it's wicked expensive, but I took a taxi out there and signed up for horseback riding. 3 hours with a private guide through the countryside, going up into the mountains a bit, a snack included, on beautiful Peruvian Paso Fino horses. $65 USD with a healthy exchange rate benefitting the hotel, it was about 200+ soles. About 30 minutes into my ride, which was two guides, one of the guides' horses became seriously ill. it started sweating out, frothing at the mouth, and at one point started falling down and couldn't get up. the guides were extremely worried about him, obviously, and it was really scary to watch because the guide kept saying "this horse is going to die" over and over. Someone ran off to get it medicine, and to find a stable hand to help us back, because as my guide said to me, "we have to go back and take care of this". fine, i was freaked out anyway. but we couldn't go back because we were in a dumpy back woods neighborhood (hadn't seen anything yet) and a truck was blocking the only way we could get back. the truck owners were not at all sympathetic to moving their truck for a dying horse, but came to watch anyway. after 45 minutes we finally got past the truck and booked it back to Sol y Luna. from that point on I was entirely ignored because everyone was worrying about the horse. I went to the front desk and told the receptionist what happened and that I wanted a refund. obviously i am not being spiteful about a sick horse, but i also don't think i should pay for a trip that i didn't go on. i was told that the manager was away for an hour but they would see what they could do. I ended up waiting 3 hours, with no one talking to me, no one asking if i was hungry or thirsty, or disturbed by what i had seen. finally i go back to reception where i am told that because i simply mounted the horse, and left the lodge land, i have to pay half of the $65. "that's the policy". I asked if I could defer the $65 into another tour, do the Pisac market journey tomorrow with a $65 discount. the agent called Moises, the manager, who told me to fuck off. they don't offer discounts, i could take it or leave it. I have never been treated so poorly or inconsiderately by what is supposed to be a luxury operation, both in hotelling and tourism. I even work in hotelling and i know that there is no "policy", that if a manager actually has a soul they can do anything they want, so I was horrified by Moises's attitude. He is no better than a common thief, end of story.

Loved this place!! The accommodations are private casitas and fully furnished, including cooking and eating utensils. The space between the casitas is far enough to give it a very calm and quiet atmosphere. The landscape/gardens are tranquil and peaceful. It is highly rated (#1) on TripAdvisor. Check it out!

I’m currently surrounded by 3 little kids looking at my trail map -- reading it actually. We are in the middle of the cloud forest in an incredible valley and have stopped for our 2nd night while trekking the Salkantay trail. We (10 of us) are in a small farm, and local country home full of pigs, cats, a dog and a ton of chickens. The porters have set our tents up and are boiling water for coca leaf tea and preparing our dinner. Today I have accomplished one of the hardest trails I have done -- ever. Running a marathon (which I did) was on par for about half the distance -- then it go really hard.

The first day on the trail we were individually picked up by taxis at around 4 am and taken to a bus stop where we boarded a bus. Not a tour bus or nice scenic bus, but a plain backcountry bus. Complete with live chickens and locals going back home from the city (Cuzco). The bus teetered on precipices while navigating high mountain switchbacks on narrow and muddy dirt roads. all the way to Mollepata, Peru... Some two hair-raising hours away. In Mollepata (a very small town) we had a country breakfast packed up the mules and horses with the equipment, who go on ahead with the porters to set up lunch stops and camps. Once our hike began, I realized the hell I was in for. We began to go straight up and up... and up. Yet in nice cool weather. After 4 hours we stopped for lunch. The porters had set up lunch camp in a makeshift mud hut. We had coca tea, soup and spaghetti (always soup, every meal has soup). After hiking for another 3 hours we made our stop in one of the most inspiring places I have ever seen in Soray Pampa. Just amazing with the black, snow covered Andes in the background with low clouds and a carpet of moss and fern in the valley. Simply incredible. And just the 10 of us (plus staff) in this immense valley at 11,808 feet. We had climbed around 1000 feet in our first day. 10 of us being a couple from Germany, a couple from Switzerland, three from Iowa and two women who had worked together at IBM in North Carolina. All very interesting and fit  people, along with our guide Julio Cesar, 3 porters, a cook and his assistant son.

The temperatures in the valley dropped to well below freezing with some fearful gusts that night -- I could not sleep. I have never and probably never be used to sleeping in tents. every bone and joint hurt that evening, no amount of coca tea helped the vertigo and shortness of breath. We were warned that the next day will be the hardest of the 5 days. I had no idea, or could possibly have imagined, how true those words were.

am sonntag klingelt erneut viel zu frueh unser wecker, da unser zug aguas calientes zurueck richtung ollantaytambo bereits um 5.45 verlaesst. von ollantaytambo fahren wir mit shared taxi und bus ins 54 km entfernte pisac, ein kleines dorf ebenfalls im sacred valley wo sonntags ein teilweise noch sehr urspruenglicher markt stattfindet.

zum glueck erreichen wir den marktplatz vor den tour-touristen-massen und koennen ungestoert beobachten wie die einheimischen gemuese und fruechte kauften.

gegen mittag und nach einem stueck ananas- und schoko-kuchen sowie einem veggie-empanada (teigtasche gefuellt mit tomaten, kaese und origano) fahren wir mit dem bus zurueck nach cuzco. hier sahen wir uns eine koloniale kirche an, die auf alten, perfekt geschliffenen und noch voellig intakten inka-mauer-resten gebaut ist, essen bei einem mexikaner zu abend und fallen voellig geschafft, mit noch immer mueden beinen und Manuel mit fieber ins bett.

I lived in Pisac for 2 months in '06 and enjoyed walking through the market and watching the people from the balconies of the different resturants. Tour buses filled with tourists go there quite frequently.

You can ask people where to take the local bus to Pisac (the sign should say headed to Ollantaytambo). The bus ride should cost about 2 soles but it will most likely be jam-packed. I was squashed up against the door and a woman holding her infant. The infant had a cold and was trying to grab my hat from my head. The bus ride should last about an hour but it was such a fun experience.

On the way back, take the bus headed for Cusco and if you want to stop at the ruins, tell them to stop at Tambomachay. You can then walk from Tambomachay to Puka Pukara, Qenko and Sacsaywaman. We actually missed the sign to Qenko. If your starting point is Tambomachay and you are walking towards Cusco, the sign for Qenko should be on the other side of the road.

If you are interested in Mountain biking through the Sacred Valley of Peru contact this outfit. Omar is the owner and he is an avid rider. He knows all the trails,beginners to advanced. He will also help you with any other treks or adventurous activities you may want to do while in Peru.

Another short entry...

Visited Pisac, Peru today.  Famous for its Sunday markets, I splurged and shared a $10/30 minute taxi ride with three girls from New York who did a pretty good job of spending money at the markets.  The 60 cent bus ride to the same city would have required a 30 minute wait for a standing room only bus and I thought I could afford the few extra dollars.

After the market, the girls went on other cities while I spent an hour climbing the local ruins that provided amazing views of the valley below.  The final climb to the top was actually more of a climb that a hike, that only a few of us chose to do.  The pictures at the top were taken by a couple who has spent the last 10 years traveling the world in their sail boat.  I was a bit beat afterwards and headed back to Cuzco for a Lunch overlooking the Plaza.

journal and photos to follow shortly

Our trip to Machu Picchu began with a tour of the Sacred Valley or 'Valle Sagrada'.  We stopped in the Pisac market and grabbed some fresh empanadas recently pulled from the oven.  Then as we walked toward the marketplace two llamas sprinted past us oblivious to our presence and shoved their faces into a bucket of carrots I'm hoping was placed for them.

The market was full of colours and sounds and people moving all over the place.  I purchased a couple things then decided to walk around and enjoy the experience.

The Pisac Ruins were beautiful.  We hiked up along a trail until we reached the ruins.  From the ruins site we could look down into the valley and enjoy the remarkable view.  Here was the first place that we saw the solstice induced Inca Cross.  Only half of the cross is created and the sunlight generated from the soltice sun creates the remaining half of the cross in shadow.

Our guide was a very interesting character.  Everything he said he tended to finish with really long drawn-out syllables, such as, ''This cathedral was very intereeeeeeeesssting...''  It was hard not to smile when he spoke.  He was really engaging and made some pretty funny comments.  At the end of Pisac he said, ''I know you are tired but wait until we are back because then you can relax, rest or maybe cry, but do not let others see you cry, because then they will think you are craaaazzy..''

Today Pisac is a picturesque village, typical except for the huge tree that dominates the central square. The village is best known for its Sunday market, which draws hundreds of tourists each week. In spite of its popularity the market still retains some of its local charm, at least in the part where villagers from miles around gather to barter and sell their produce. In the tourist section of the market you can buy the usual variety of handicrafts - mostly the same things you see in Cusco and everywhere else and the starting prices are mostly the same. Of course the final price depends on the vendor´s experience and your own ability to negotiate.

It is a fun place to stop for a couple of hours on your way back from Ollantaytambo, buy some souvenirs, get some food and read the signs advertising “Indoor pool, sauna, jacuzzi and buffet a la carte”, not exactly traditional Incan fair but amusing nonetheless.

A strange site.  Located some 40 km. from Cuzco, it offers a startling sight of layers of beige and white salt pants that are still used to crystallize salt from water flowing from a nearby mountain. Since pre-Inca times, salt has been obtained in Maras by evaporating salty water thousands of pools in the sun, leaving the salt behind.

It is a location not very popular among tourists doing the typical 3-4 day visits to Cuzco but we found it extremely interesting due to the sheer size of the site, its location on a hillside overlooking the Sacred Valley and of course the simple fact that a salt water spring has been flowing from a mountain with impressive force for more than a 1000 years (or really who knows for how long!) providing a source of much needed high quality salt.