We were really happy to leave Lima. As cool as the things we saw are, the city is dirty and you can´t help but feel like your purse is going to be snatched at any moment. At the airport, our plane changed gates THREE TIMES. We felt so relieved when we finally got to Cuzco. Cuzco, by the way, means the navel of the earth. Thus, the belly button title. It´s a beautiful city, with houses built into the hills. The only problem is that it´s 11,000 feet above sea level. So I have a constant headache. I´m a huge wimp. What of it?
Just like with Lima, we were nonstop from the time we arrived. We took a bus tour of the city and visited some of the ruins. One of the ruins is called Saxaywaman, which sounded like ¨Sexy Woman¨ every time our tour guide said it. It never got old and I chuckled like a 13 year old each time. After awhile, the ruins all start to look the same. The Incas were brilliant though.
It´s late spring here, so it´s the rainy season. But as we were walking part of the Inca Trail, we turned around and saw two rainbows over the city. It was stunning. The image of all the tourists in diffrenent colored rain ponchos was amusing. It was a rainbow of ponchos on parade.
That night, Jason and I decided to try some of the Peruvian traditional cuisine. Ladies and gentleman, I ate guinea pig. It was repulsive. It came out as a full guinea pig too, it´s claws out and baring it´s teeth. We took some pretty hilarious pictures, which I will try and post as soon as I can. We also decided to try another traditional food– Alpaca. But in a less daring way. We ordered the hilariously titled ¨Big Pac¨, which was an Alpaca burger with fries. Not too bad. But a little unsettling.
Yesterday was the coolest. We woke up early and hopped on the backpacker´s train to Machu Picchu. I had no idea what was going on, and just assumed the train would be aroun 45 minutes. It took a solid FOUR HOURS to get there. That´s a longgg train ride. But it´s a great way to see a country. Gorgeous mountains. The Peruvians would watch the train go by like statues. Some held their hands over their ears, but most just stared. I wonder what they think of us. They´re so poor, and here we are, with our expensive hiking gear, flying past them on a train. It was an interesting thought.
Jason and I decided to ditch our tour within three minutes of being on it because we quickly realized we were on a double tour. Victor, our guide, would say everything in Spanish, and then in English. Um, no thanks. So instead of waiting for him after the terrifying bus ride up to Machu Picchu, we ran right in. It was the best decision we made. Everything we needed to know was in our Lonely Planet guide, and we covered way more ground than anyone on the tour. At one point, we passed Victor and he started calling out to me. Oops. I had just gotten busted for cutting class. But we just couldn´t handle it.
Machu Picchu is unlike anything I have ever seen. The ruins are just ruins, yes, but it´s the scenery and thinking about how the Incas managed to get it all up there that made it so amazing. I think it was impossible to take a bad picture…everything looks like a postcard. I can´t even begin to describe it with words.
Last night´s dinner was entertaining. Peru is obsessed with Chinese food, and there are ¨Chifas¨everywhere. They come really highly recommended. So last night we were in a Chinese restaurant, in Peru, and American music was playing. Messed with my head a bit.
We missed the bus for our tour today, but we were really sick of guided tours so we didn´t really care. Besides it was just more ruins. So instead, we´re going to bum around Cuzco and go to some museums.
Sorry if there are spelling and grammatical errors in this…my time at the internet cafe is running out.
Tomorrow we leave for Puno, and we´re going to see Lake Titicaca. Teehee. Funny name.
My headache is a little better.
