Tim_Day 55 - 61 (Cuzco)

Day 55 (Continued)
After the finishing up our blogs that day we mostly just hung around and took care of details. We watched the tube and enjoyed every single brainless minute of it.

Slept ok that night but I think those pills are still messing with my sleep. I think Ana is also feeling them. I had a weird dream I was hunting human´s with a bow and arrow? It was really sad and I didn´t want to but I had to if I wanted to live. I ended up shooting a little girl on a bike. How messed up is that. I carried her so her younger sister wouldn´t see it. I asked the girl to forgive me and she said don´t worry she understood. Man I wonder what Frued would say about that dream. Probably say Ana´s driving me nutz. Just kidding Ana.





Day 56
Woke up at 6:00 to catch our early bus to Cuzco. It sucks getting up early with my stomach feeling the way it was. Morning always makes my stomach feel off. I was happy though to know that we were getting out of La Paz. I´m not a big fan of large cities and I felt like we had spent allot of time in this big city. I´d rather be in smaller towns with more character. Large cities are all about the same. Busy, loud, and crowded.

We got on the bus and it turned out to be full of tourist. That is always a good things since it means there are less odds we will get our stuff stolen. Also it means there are allot of people doing the same thing we are. In the end it makes boarder crossings and things like that easier since your in a small group. Allot of times you also meet good people that way.

We sat in the bus for a couple hours winding through some really nice country with small farms everywhere. They were dotted along the horizon for what seemed like forever. Each farm had a few different crops on it and a couple animals. Either a cow, pig, or lama. Each farm was carved out of the earth. Some farms were up really steep trails and on the side of mountains. Funny that land was so valuable that they would farm on some pretty massive inclines. I guess it wouldn’t be to bad if you were doing all the farming by hand like they were.

Seeing all those small farms scattered across the country was really like stepping back in time. I think America was like that a hundred years ago when we were all independent farmers. The time before tractors and the large machinery of today. Everyone owned their own little piece of land and farmed it then sold their goods in the city. Seeing those farms made sense of why there were thousands of markets in La Paz. Everyone went to town to sell what they grew or made on their farms.

After about 2 hours we got to the border of Peru. We crossed without too many problems. The usual confusion, pushing, and general chaos that goes with government run things. The one thing that did surprise me was there was a guy toward the end that was trying to make us form a line. It was really weird to think that they had lines and order. Was actually refreshing. I was thinking is he going to now ask for money or something. You get that way in these countries. Seems nothing is for free.

We found the bus on the Peru side and drove another 10 hours to get to Cuzco. The country was more more rich than Bolivia and you could see that everywhere. The buildings all had nice steal roofs (not dirt’s and grass) and there were really nice cars. When I say nice car I mean they don´t look like there going to break down in the next 10 minutes. They actually look like they could go a couple hundred miles before a tire fell off, or the engine dropped out. Being in a richer country was nice. But at the same time it means we have to watch our money closer. That kind of sucks.

We arrived in Cuzco in the night around 6 or so. The whole day we spent winding through mountain roads. The landscape is really beautiful and covered as well with more small farms. The earth and weather seem very fertile for growing things. The mountains were green and there seems to be a ton of rivers and water everywhere.

I was pretty sea sick by the time we got into Cuzco. We hadn´t really eaten anything the whole day and we were starving. The bus never stopped so we had to only could eat what they gave us which was some crackers and a couple candies. What a great and nutritious meal. That kind of meal keeps you powering through the day. We should have brought more food on the bus. Our bad. I was so hungry I even tried eating a piece of the seat in front of me. Tasted a bit to salty and I decided against it.

During the trip we met a nice German girl traveling alone. She was only 20 and had been traveling alone for 6 months in South America. Crazy girl. We decided to take a taxi together to our place where she was going to ask if they had a room available for her.

Our place was up a massive hill and it was fun hiking our bags up to it. Damn Incan streets. If they were so smart they should have figured out how to build things on flat land rather than hills. Anyway we made it to the hostel and all three of us were our of breath. We ended up getting a dormitory room together.

We headed out on the streets to go get something to eat. The town was really magical from the hill. It has that colonial architecture feel to it. Very European feel which was nice in the middle of South America. The lights were very yellow in tone so the whole city glowed a warm yellow glow. We made it to the main square where everything was nicely paved, and the groomed. Little nice benches and trees. It reminded me of Disneyland.

Then this magical vision was brought down to earth with the horde of vendors that rushed us. All the sudden we had at least 5 different aggressive restaurant vendors fighting for our business. Come here free this, come here we have that. They were very aggressive and Ana was getting frustrated and feeling like she had no choice.

I´m not as bothered by them and I don´t have a problem being rude to them. Ana tries being nice and you can´t be that way with them. My thinking is they are being rude to me so I can be rude to them. I don´t acknowledge their presence and pretend like there not even there. When I totally ignore them they know that there is no chance in hell no matter how long they bug me that I want what their offering. When you acknowledge the vendors they think they have a chance of earning your business and will follow you all the way down the street trying to force you into buying what they have.

These venders were the most aggressive by far in all of South America. They have no moral sense and will do anything just shy of holding a knife to your throat to get you to buy there goods. They try to pin things on your shirt, they put stuff in your hand, pull on your shirt, you name it anything is game here. Very vicious.

We ended up going to a place for dinner that was only 9 soles (3 American dollars) for a 5 item meal. It was a good deal and the lowest they could offer. I knew that since I pitted those guys against each other on price. A couple guys were pretty mad and Ana said they were cursing at me in the end. The vendors are like that. They seem mad and angry that you don´t want to buy from them. Screw them though it´s all part of the game here. There out to screw me so why can´t I leverage the same back at them. Oh well.

We had a great dinner. Included a lime drink, orange juice, chips ( 4 to be exact) and guacamole, burrito, and banana desert. It was a great meal and light. We headed back up Mount Everest to our hostel. Going to get some exercise in this city. Will be nice since allot of the cities we´ve been doing have not included much walking. I guess we were also feeling pretty sick though in the last few cities.

We sleep pretty good. The place doesn´t have heating but they have thick blankets and that’s always nice to sleep under.





Day 57
Woke up early since Peru is an hour behind Bolivia. We decided to get up and go schedule all the things we wanted to do in this city (See Machu Pichu and see some of the other ruins). We decided to eat the breakfast they offered at the hotel to give us some energy for the day. Bad choice. The guy who was the receptionist was also the cook? That says allot. On top of that he is I think a little retarded. He also had to go to the local store to get the ingrediants for breakfast. Interesting. I think we were the only idiot tourist dumb enough to eat there. Anyway we had bread with jam and an egg. I didn´t know you could make an egg so bad. It was not cooked enough so it was runny. It also had some pieces of shell in it for extra protein and crunch. Yummy. I think it was also those brown eggs cause it didn´t taste right.

After our powerful breakfast we headed out on the town. We spent most of the day walking all over the city fighting vendors and looking for places. We did end up buying the train, bus, and entrance to Machu Pichu. Which by the way is a rip off. Stupid government knows you’ll pay for it so they jack up the price. We got it as cheap as possible and it was still 100.00 American dollars. We could have done a 4 day all inclusive jungle tour with that much money. Oh well you got to see it. It´s one of those icons. I was actually considering not seeing it. I wasn´t sure how overrated it was. You know how those things are. But we coughed up the cash and paid for it.

During the day we also bought another city site pass to see a bunch of museum and historical sites around town. We dropped into a couple museums which were ok. There were some nice pots and things like that. Good to see but the first one was similar to the other two. We also stopped by a large statue. Went to the top and saw a great overview of the city. Was fun.

We ate lunch at a nice little local place. The chicken was pretty good. I´ve been getting kind of daring with the food latel. They had a salad bar (trust me it´s not like what you think of at home) and I just dug in like what the hell I´ll try it. It didn´t seem to bother my stomach later. I´m not sure if I´m getting lucky with the food or if my stomach is getting stronger. Time will tell. Man I´m daring.

The rest of the day we just bummed around town. Sat for a while and soaked up the atmosphere. Beautiful little city. It´s funny because at the same time your enjoying the city you have to keep watch on your belongings. I´m constantly watching the people and making sure my bag is secure and my wallet is still with me. Kind of sucks but it the price you pay to keep your belongings.

We slept pretty good that night. There was a local bar with some bass but I did my best to ignore it. We were pretty tired out as well from walking at least 10 miles in the city that day.




Day 58
Woke up and headed out early. Decided to skip the breakfast offered at the hostel. I missed the runny eggs with small bits of shell in it. We walked down to the bus station and caught a bus up to one of the ruins near the city. The bus was interesting. The usual aroma of local people along with the small bus seats made for smurfs.

Getting off at the first ruins was nice. It was good to see some ruins and the craftsmanship of the Inca´s was really impressive. Carved stones fitted perfectly together. Massive rocks carved and moved to create walls for the river, homes, and roads. Really cool. Just like you see on the National Geographic channel. So nice to see things I´ve only seen on tv in real life. It gives so much dimension to how I think of things. The Inca culture seems so 3 dimensional now. I can really imagine what their life must have been like. Very cool.

We walked to 4 different sites that day. Each with it´s own character. These sites were on the outskirts of Cuzco and must have been little towns that traded goods. There are different ceremonial buildings where they would sacrifice things. Not sure if they killed people but I wouldn´t be surprised. I know the Aztecs did and there no to far away from this country.

We opted to not see the sites with a guide but to do it ourselves. It was nice since we could just sit for a little while and soak up the environment. We sat for a long time just looking at the site, the mountains around, the people and the animals grazing on the local hillsides. Very tranquil and I can only imagine the Inca´s felt the same peace at times.

We got some photos of some local kids. Ana loves takings shots of them. You have to pay them to take their photos but they are so cute and it´s worth it. There were a few cute little kids dressed in more traditional clothing.

We ended the day back in the city. We were pretty tired and walked pretty far during the course of the day. We made some phone calls and enjoyed the rest of the evening. Watched a little tv in the main room and went to sleep at a reasonable time. We were waking up early the next day to go to Machu Pichu.

Slept ok. Still restless from dreams and the pills.





Day 59
Woke up at 4 in the morning. We forgot to set the alarm clock to Peru time. We wanted to get up at 5 but pretty much got up at 4 since neither of us could really sleep after the alarm clock went off.

We got out of bed and packed quickly at 5:00. We headed down and caught a taxi in the central part of the city. Got to the train station and got a coffee. We boarded the train and sat down. The seats were a dumb a design as most of the things in this country. They had 4 seats that faced each other with about 10 inches of room between them. So basically when I sat down my legs almost touched the seat in front of me. If I ever catch a South American engineer I swear I´m going to kick him in the nads.

Sure enough right as the train was about to head out girls from Israel sat down in front of us. I´m trying not to have any pre thoughts when I see them. Maybe these girls are cool. They ended up being rude and a pain in the ass the whole way. Although they were about 4 feet tall they took more leg room than I did. Rather than sit up in their seat they slouched and pushed their legs out. They also had to have their bags down by their feet rather than in the overhead baggage compartment. Fucking rude and it drove me nuts.

Those girls were either talking, sleeping, or one of them was blowing her nose. Was so nasty. Damn I´ve never been so grossed out. She was using one of her three used tissues and keep trading them off to blow her nose. She would blow her nose like an old truck driver for about (no shitting either) 3 minutes straight. She wen´t through all her 3 Kleenex about 4 times in the process. I think she thought they were cleaner if she keep switching them. The whole time I´m thinking this Machu Pichu better be pretty cool. All this money and dealing with so much stuff to get there.

To top it off the train ride was terrible. The tracks were really old and crocked so I was getting sea sick as the train went back and forth. Then in the middle of the trip the train stops and they say there is a landslide ahead that they need to clear. I was thinking no way. We´re not going to make it there. All this for nothing. But we waited for two hours and they were able to clear it. The funny thing was that while we were waiting they let everyone get off the train and wait outside. They would never let anyone do that in America. Pretty cool and it was nice to get off the train.

Later that evening we finally made it to Agua Caliente the small town where you take a bust to Machu Pichu. It took 6 hours to get there. We got the bus up the top and got off. Interesting ride on a steep dirt road. The mountains were beautiful and I was starting to understand why they built the city in this area. The mountains were also heavy jungle which I didn´t imagine it to be that way in my head. It was though very dense and very beautiful.

We got to the top and there it was Machu Pichu. Just like the photos. It was spectacular and all the money and pain of getting their quickly faded away. The mountains were spectacular and we sat and just admired the city. It was really peaceful and magical. They say they built the city on that mountain because of the power and magic in the area. Standing there you could feel it. It was really beautiful and must have been amazing when it was an alive city.

We walked around the step hills for a few hours. Sitting and admiring the buildings. The amount of work they did to create that city was amazing. They had to step most of the mountain to keep in stable. The one thing that was also really interesting was the large hill in the background also had a little carved town on the top of it. The trail was closed to go up to it which was a bummer. Oh well next time.

Was great to see the site and it was funny later when I saw an image of Machu Pichu on a restaurant wall it looked different. I could see myself walking in it and I imagined looking at the mountains to the right of the photos and the large river way down the mountain. I love that feeling to bring life to images I´ve always seen in life. I hope at the end of this trip that I can look at a huge percentage of the worlds images and experience them that same way. When I see images of Africa or China I want to me able to smell, hear and taste them. If I get that from this trip I think I will experience the rest of my life from a perspective few people are lucky enough to share. Will be really cool. I´m excited to see how seeing the world changes me. It already has and I only feel like we´ve just begun.

Deep man. Deep.

We went down from the mountain and ate a great dinner. We again didn´t plan our food great and were very hungry by the time we hit the restaurant. The food was great and we moaned the whole time we ate. Was beef and rice and a great avocado salad. Good for the tummy.

We got the train back and the ride back was much more smooth. I didn´t have anyone in the seat in front of me so I had lot´s of room which was really nice. There was an older English guy sitting in the seat in front of Ana. We ended talking the whole way back to Cuzco. He was a fascinating guy and had traveled most of the world. He said he was an addicted traveler. He remembers traveling the world before planes were huge. He said he would spend from 5 -7 weeks on a boat getting to the different parts of the world. Pretty crazy. Makes our flights and bus rides look pretty short.

When we arrived into Cuzco it was raining. We took a taxi back to the place and crashed. We were pretty tired. Was a full day. Slept like a log.





Day 60
Woke up feeling pretty good. Both of our legs were a little sore from walking mile around the hills. We ate a great breakfast at a local restaurant and headed out to see a couple local museums. They were ok. Had some nice paintings. Nice things are starting to become a blur. Another nice church, antother nice painting. You can only see so many and you just start getting tired of them no matter how spectacular they are. Crazy but true.

The day was kind of cloudy and rainy all day. Off and on. Sprinkles then clear. Over and over. Was nice though to have a little weather. We are a little worried though that all the rain in going to make our bus ride to Nasca interesting. We´ll see.

Later in the evening we went to the local market to buy a bunch of gifts. We´ve been waiting till the last part of the trip to stock up on gifts and art for our home. We found some great paintings and charcoal drawings of children. There going to look great in the house. Was fun walking through the hundreds of stalls all selling about the same thing. I enjoy haggling with the vendors over the price. It´s always fun. Walking away and them trying to get you back. Then you turn around and say maybe. Good times.

On our way back to the hostel to drop off the loot we found a Chinese food place. I was so happy. I wanted to order the whole menu. It´s so funny to see a couple Asian guys cooking up Chinese food in the front. We sat down and ordered a large thing of rice and the closest thing on the menu to orange chicken. The food ended up not being as good as it looked. It wasn´t bad but it just tasted a little off. I think the spices or ingredients were not the same. I ate a ton and we both left with stomach aches. We tasted the food once again when we walked up the step hill to our hostel. It tasted even worse the second time around.

After dropping off our goods in our room we went back down to the center square to meet up with our French friends we meet about a month ago at the bottom of Argentina in Ushuia.

It was really funny but we bumped into them by chance when we were at Machu Pichu the previous day. It was so funny. We couldn’t believe it was them. We emailed and decided we would have a drink together that night.

We met Jenny and Jerome and walked over to a local bar to have a drink and catch up. We had a great time. Their really a fun couple and we communicated in mostly Spanish with some English and a little French. I´m starting to get enough of a hold of Spanish to be able to communicate. I´m butchering the words but somehow I think other people are starting to understand me. What´s also really nice is I´m finding it more and more easy to understand people who are talking in Spanish. Very cool. I´m still a long way from mastering the language but at least I fell like I have some kind of foot hold.

We sat and talked for a few hours then headed back to the flat. Was good times with the French couple and always good for the heart. I slept like a rock. I did though have a funny dream about winning the lottery. Was funny and sad because I woke up and realized it wasn´t true. In the dream I had won 84 million dollars. Man I was so excited.

Oh well I´m already living one dream. Winning the lottery is just going to have to stay a dream for now.




Day 61
Woke up early in the morning packed up. We put our stuff in storage and checked out of our room. We head out to Nasca at 6:00pm today. We went down to the local restaurant where we had breakfast the previous day. I found some Top Ramon´s in the local store a couple days before and I´ve been wanting to cook them up so bad. So at the restaurant Ana ordered breakfast I had them cook me up two packets of Top Ramon. I was a little concerned but they did a great job with the soup. Man it was great and reminded me of home. My stomach was giving me high 5´s all morning.

We went and drew more money out of the ATM. The stupid city has been very expensive. Nice but really expensive. I´m glad were getting out soon. We´ve been her long enough.

We also stopped into a local store and burned our photos down to CD´s. We also changed some money and watched a movie in the hostel. Basically were wasting away the day doing errands and messing around. It just starting raining again so we´ll see how the bus ride tonight to Nasca goes? We´ve heard the delays can be crippling. Were going to make sure to bring lot´s of food and water. We might be sitting in the bus for a while if there is an avalanche or something stupid like that. Wish us luck.

T*