Peru Part Two
Hello! this is going to be brief because david is hungry.
needless to say, since i'm writing this, we obviously survived the inca trail - it was really amazing - we hiked for 3 full days and then got up at 4am on the last day and hiked 1 1/2 hours in the dark so that we could be at the gate of the sun above machu picchu for the sunrise. the hike was beautiful and challenging. we walked through cloud forests, high dessert and crossed two passes over 12,000 feet (one of which is appealingly named dead woman's pass). all in all, we walked for about 24 hours total. we did almost lose one of our fellow trekkers on the last morning when he fell off the trail in the dark and landed in the bushes about 20 feet below the trail. definitely a scary moment, but he was unhurt and only a little shaken up.
machu picchu was really amazing and we spent about 5 hours wandering around the old inca ruins. despite the number of people there (in high season, it can number 1500 per day!) it was remarkably peaceful. and boy do we know a lot about inca ruins now! we spent the day before our trek touring around the city of cusco, checking out all of their inca ruins (ruins primarily because the spanish demolished them and built churches on top of them or quarried their stones for new buildings). we also spent all day after we got back from our trek touring around the sacred valley between machu picchu and cusco, checking out all of those ruins too. after listening to all the guides talk about this window and that projection which perfectly align on the morning of the summer solstice, i just have this image in my head of hundreds of archeologists deployed to every old inca site for the winter and summer solstices to see which shadows go where.
yesterday, we took a break from all things inca and rode the train from cusco to puno (on the shores of lake titicaca, one of the highest navigable lakes in the world at 12,500') - the train ride took 11 hours (plus the 2 extra hours we spent sitting in the train station waiting for them to locate an engine that actually worked...) for that length of time, we decided to ante up the extra $40 and ride first class. it was gorgeous. big cushy armchairs with tables with damask tablecloths & little brass lamps, wood paneling, a delicious lunch, an observation car attached to ours which had couches & chairs and little tables and, best of all, an area which was open in the back so we could hang out the back and take pictures and wave at the campesinos we passed along the way (and believe me, you pass a lot of campesinos in 11 hours!). also, the bathroom was gorgeous with wood paneling, soap and paper towels and toilet paper (in peru, as in most ot! her 3rd world countries, that's REALLY first class!!).
the train ride was gorgeous - lots of spectacular scenery with snow capped mountains, sweeping plains, grazing llamas, campesinos harvesting corn and a 14,000 foot pass (coca leaves are highly effective for acclimating to altitude and it's very legal here. we bought a big old bag of leaves as we began our trek (the tea is also ubiquitous) and i am a huge fan now (fortunately, not addictive. unfortunately, illegal in the u.s.!) and kept a pretty wad of the leaves between cheek and gum for much of our trek and some of our higher altitude exploits.
today we went out onto the lake (notable also for probably the world's slowest boats - it was all i could do to keep david from hoisting an sail to move us along more quickly) although we began with a little adventure as the nice man at the front desk of our hotel told our tour guide that we were not staying at the hotel so the tour left without us this morning. for 40 soles (about $12) we went down to the pier and hired a boat to take us out to our tour's first stop. it was a little hairy, but we caught them just as they were leaving to go to the primo destination, taquile island, about a 3 hour boat ride (although, again, david swears he could sail there faster than the titicaca boats drive) from where we're staying. once more, we had glorious weather (although a little chilly since we're so high in the andes) and it was great to be out on the water.
it's hard to believe today is day 13 of our trip. tomorrow, it's over the border to bolivia and our final days of the trip. so far, i have avoided the temptation to buy a giant stuffed llama, but i'm really really close...fortunately, i haven't seen any here yet, so there may still be hope!
okay, time to go search for giant stuffed llamas and also probably time to feed david (the food here has been pretty good - more potatoes and rice than most of us see in a lifetime, but also some fabulous lake trout and some good broasted chicken. still no cuy, although we did see a private home with a cuy hutch the other day - poor little guys!!)
hope you're all well -
ss