Climb every mountain

¡Hola mis amigos!

I have been getting my workout the past couple of days in preparation for the Inca Trail. Yesterday I walked all over Cusco, I don´t think there is a street I didn´t walk down (ok well there are a lot, but in the central disctrict anyway). So to see most of the Inca Ruins and museums in Cusco one must purchase a Tourist Ticket is the english translation. They have student tickets for half, but you have to be under 25...I tried to argue, but it didn´t work. Such discrimination. Anyway Saturday I visited all of the muesos in the city and since I am not one for museos, it took like no time. Most have lot of Inca and pre-Inca artifacts and at one museo, a group of students were walking around and I had a nice conversation with a guy who wanted to know what everything was called in English.

Today I was awaken at 5:30 by the sound of cannons...well ok maybe they weren`t cannons, but no one can tell me what they are and they sound like cannons (If I had to imagine what a cannon would sound like as I don´t think I´ve ever heard a cannon) anyway. I caught a local minibus to Pisac, which is in the Sacred Valley. http://www.andeantravelweb.com/peru/destinations/cusco/sacredvalley.html

The Sacred Valley is home to several Inca Ruins and was a very important ceromonial center. Most tourists take organized tours and see all of the area ruins in one day, but it is much more fun if you try to go on your own :) I of course can´t stand organized tours because you only get like 5 minutes at each site and besides you don´t sit next to cute kids staring at you or don´t get bumped in the head by the back sack of a Peruvian woman when you take the tourists buses. You also miss out of meeting some great locals which I had the pleasure of. So I sat next to Americano (yes that is really his name) who spoke excellent English and we had a lovely conversation about US politics, transportation, and religion. He gave me some pointers on how to get to the cities I wanted to go. It is funny because everytime I sit next to a man on a bus, we talk, but the women won´t talk to me. Anyway, I walk around the colorful market at Pisac and then got a taxi to the top of the ruins. The ruins are 8 - 10 km from the town center and you can take a taxi to the top and walk to town. The village is at about 3,000 meters, and the ruins are probably twice that...at least that´s what it felt like.

I cannot describe how beautiful it was at the top of this mountain. My taxi dropped me off and I was the only one there, it was about 9 a.m. and the tours hadn´t arrived yet. I was in awe of how the Incas managed to built these communities at the top of the mountains sometimes right along the cliff. The entire sides of the mountains have been cut out into huge stair patterns with stones holding up the front of the stair part. I don´t know if this was where they grew there crops, but it looked like it could have been. In each of the ruins there were these amazing irrigation systems that drew water from somewhere inside of the mountain and ditches (that look like rain gutters on houses but made of stone) brought the water through each settlement and into wells or pools.

There were several sections of ruins and a path took you to each set. Arrows are along the path incase you decide to go off the path, which would entail going over the side of the mountain, but still the arrows were a nice touch. You walk for about 45 minutes exploring ruins and get to the low point (this is where buses pick up the tours they dropped off at the high point). I started to have company with other tourists, but once we passed the low point it was just me and it was awesome. A guide told me it would take 40 minutes to walk to town, and two hours later I finally made it.

The trail goes very close to the edge of the mountain and being the imaginative person that I am, I envisioned myself falling over the edge and not being found for like 200 years, then I would be the American frozen mummy on display for only 6 months out of the year. Oh wait it wasn´t frozen up there so I would just be decomposed material....

Well I get to a point in the trail where it divides and there are no arrows. I can see the path below me, but I don´t know how to get here. So of course I take the road less travelled. Which led me up like 50 steps to some buildings that looked like houses right on the edge of the cliff. I come across steps going down and that is my only alternative. It is so steep I can´t see if the steps lead anywhere or just stop at what looks like a lookout point. So it was either go down the steps or back where I came from and take the other path. So I decided to walk down the steps, and walk down the steps, and walk down the steps, and walk down the steps...well you get the point. 30 minutes later I finally made it to the bottom of these steps thinking if I have to go back up because these steps don´t lead anywhere I will never make it. The Inca must have been in great shape to walk up and down these steps, I lost count at 600.

So I finally made it to the bottom and there were more steps which I could see eventually lead to a path. A couple was walking up the path and I knew I was on the right direction back to Pisac. As I walked through the blazing sun, I weaved in and out along a narrow path sometimes with more steps (I never want to see another step again), and an hour later made it to the market at Pisac. I originally was going to head out to another set of ruins, but was so exhausted I think I will go tomorrow instead. So I came back to Cusco took a nap and got a facial and foot massage. One my way back on the minibus, I sat next to a guy who wanted to practice his English because he is in school to get his degree in tourism (I forget the offical name, but it sounds better than tourism).

This evening I attended an interesting performance of traditional Peruvian music and dance. All of the music sounded the same to me, with just different costums. The dances all looked the same was well, a lot of hopping around.

Tomorrow I will head out to another set of ruins that are supposed to be fantastic. Until then Chao!