Machu Picchu? Check!

Technology sadness:

1) In my new room the internet connnection is worse. Pictures and videos will be coming later.
2) My iPod is malfunctioning. I can tell it is "thinking". But the display screen is not working. So I cannot figure out where the video from my hike up the mountain at Pisac is. Will try to figure it out.
3) My AOL account is sending phantom emails to everyone I know. If you got a XYZABC* link from me via email, sorry!!!

All right! Down to business.

Trip to Machu Picchu was grueling. The train line is broken in places due to landslides in February(?). So I had to take a bus for two+ hours then change to the train for the last one+ hour.

The view was spectacular. The bus ride up from the nearby town was amazing. I tried my best not to look down due to the fact that, again, the bus was right up at the edge of a cliff most of the time. Every time we did another switchback, we got another view of the giant mountain on the other side of the valley. Words cannot describe its beauty. Hence the sadness associated with no pictures yet!

Once inside, I saved the actual archaeological stuff for later, and decided it was time to hike up even farther. There is a side trail that you can take that allows you to see the site from the perspective of people who did the 4-day trek into the site from 20 miles away. I dilly-dallyied for too long this past winter, so I was not able to secure a spot on one of these space-limited jaunts.

One thing I really noticed about Peru yesterday was that they are not sticklers for nanny-style safety like we have in the U.S. The result is that you have to be careful, really. But you also get to find yourself in places you would not normally get to be in. The view up there: Amazing.

The actual site was beautiful. But I usually like looking at things like this from afar, admiring the entire unit as a whole rather than paying attention to all the small details that were there. The main thing I was thinking about while I was in the residential area was just wondering why in the world people would choose to live so high in the sky. But I guess living there would be better living than down in the valley, back in the day at least: There really was a lot of space to do the farming needed to support people's hungry stomachs. Nowadays, trains bring in the food, I imagine.

Believe it or not, llamas(?) alpacas(?) -- one of them -- live up there. I have some pictures of some of them right before they started running past me, but where are they? Not here (yet!) .

After visting the park, I went back down to the town of Aguas Calientes and ate a mostly unmemorable meal of chicken and potatoes, but I decided for the first time on this trip to try one of the country's famous alcoholic beverage, the Pisco Sour. M'mmm. It is pretty good. At some point I read up on what is in it in my guidebook, but I cannot remember what it is. I just know it felt good going down, and for quite a while afterward. So I have decided that it is time to find the best Pisco Sour in Peru.

So that is what happened yesterday. What about today? There is no time to worry about it right now. I have to head out the door to see a presentation of KUSICKAY. kusikay.com. It is sort of like Peru's answer to Cirque do Soliel. I guess since I have never been to a Cirque du Soliel performance, I had better do watch this one while I am here. Over and out!

* I am trying to keep this blog kid-friendly.