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After hanging around Cuzco for a couple of days and visiting some sites we began our journey to Macchu Picchu by way of Santa Maria and Santa Teresa - two small towns in the upper Amazon. As we ascended up the mountains surrounding Cuzco it was not hard to believe why the mountain bastion of Macchu Picchu had eluded European discovery for nearly 500 years. The landscape went from the relatively dry hills to precipices of several thousand feet, densely covered in jungle. All within about a 2-hours journey.
We reached the town of Santa Maria had some jungle juice and hopped another colectivo to Santa Teresa - a small town very near Macchu Picchu. We soaked in the thermal baths and prepared to depart at 4 in the morning to Macchu. The route to MP by way of Santa Teresa is more difficult and requires about 8-hours walking roundtrip, but it avoids the expensive tourist train and complimentary rip-off, train town. We awoke, met a Belgian hippie, and began the dark walk along train tracks to MP. It was fucking dark and dangerous. We crossed over a railway bridge in pitch darkness and sang "yes, Jesus loves me!" in attempt to conjure courage.
We finally reached the gates of MP after a ridiculous final ascent by the way of the Incan road. Virtually straight-up the hillside. The park was already bulging with tourists, but we paid the overpriced ticket, I bought a red bull and entered the park. It had taken us 4 hours to walk from Santa Teresa.
Macchu Picchu truly is amazing. It remained hidden from European eyes until 1912 because of its geographical isolation and its' importance to the Incan culture. It is speculated (no one knows for sure because there is no Incan writing) that kept there were the Virgins of the Sun that served the Incan priests and leaders. It might also be where the last Incan emperor retreated shortly before being captured by the Spaniards elsewhere. Possibly the original Temple of the Sun is here. There really isn't a good way to describe MP in words.
We wondered around for awhile and I ascended the peak behind MP - Huayna Picchu.
We descended and began the 4-hour walk back to Santa Teresa and along the way found some avocadoes and bananas to eat.
Next day we had some trouble getting to Ollantaytambo but Pilar was a first-class negotiator and we succeeded in our travels. I am accustomed to using a "good cop/bad cop" form of negotiation - now I just play stupid cop because of Pilar's expertise and "take-no-prisoners" attitude. Unquestionably, here I'm at a disadvantage compared to Pilar. She gets so much more out of the places and people we're visiting because she can speak the language - I probably come across as a sort of intelligent cow. I return your gaze, but there just isn't a lot of understanding going on. Nevertheless, I enjoy.
We arrived in Ollantaytambo and found a beautiful hostel and I accidentally erased all of my photos while sitting on the toilet. We visited the ruins where the Incas won a battle against the Spanish by flooding the fields below the fort and rolling boulders onto the poor bastards.
We moved onto Salinas - old salt drying beds, then to Moray - a kind of Incan laboratory for crops - descending circular terraces set within a natural bowl valley.
Finally, our whirlwind 'Incan Ruin Tour 08' concluded in the town of Chincheros where the Spanish built a beautifully painted church over some Incan structures. Really lovely little place and we ate a nice lunch with rice and tripe.
Exhausted, we returned back to Cuzco and a local computer whiz recovered my photos
