Our friend Picchu

Wish I could upload my photos and show off the adorable dog that joined us for a little hike in Macchu Picchu. but I can´t. words will have to do. We named him Picchu and he was beige and adorable...(addendum, now I can:)

But i´m getting ahead of myself. We arrived in Cusco to a wonderful Hostel with the only drawback being our room had a window that opened to the public area instead of the outside. After a 12 hr or so bus ride, who cares where you stay really, but this place was nice. Cusco is THE tourist center of Peru, the gateway to Macchu Picchu. It´s a beautiful mountain city with red tile roofs everywhere and steep hills that would have been harder to climb had we not acclimatized more in Arequipa. We stayed in San Blas, the 'artistic' center of Cusco, which as far as I could tell just meant the chachka shops were more tastefully disguised in pretty stone boutique'ish stores. But still, it´s quite lovely there. Had some great food in Cusco too, though the residual traveller´s sickness still haunted me. We went to THE nicest restaurant in Cusco, at least according to the books, but I couldn´t fully enjoy it. Good though. well worth the not-expensive-by-new-york-standards prices.

We explored Cusco a bit, I got me those new hiking boots I was crowing about, and the toe started to feel a lot better. Though the first application of toe cleaning alcohol stung like hell. I screamt. screamed. whatever the word is. Now it feels much better. the screaming has ceased.

After 2 nights in Cusco we took a rather long local bus to Urubamba and then a Combi to Ollytaytambo. Fun names, no? a combi is a just a van thats cheap and people share for transport. In Olly we explored some ruins high on a mountain... H got a bit scared of heights which would continue throughout, though he was damn brave and didn´t go running down the thousands of steps or anything. After this and more chachka shopping, (my favorite activity) we caught a train to Aguas Calientes, at the base of Macchu Picchu. The train was supposed to be 80 mins, but seemed to take days. It stopped often to let others pass, and do who knows what else. It was inhabited almost entirely by the French, who incidentally are everywhere here. The all wear Quechua gear which I've never heard of but now want to own cause they look so damn cool.

So voux arrivez pretty late in Aguas, where we luckily found a nice lady to show us our hostel, since no one was officially waiting for us. The 'town' exists only to service Macchu Picchu, thereby making it overpriced and not very interesting, save for the geography. It was hilly and framed a river with many bridges, and the weather was surprisingly tropical compared with everywhere else.

We got up as early as we could, 5ish, to rush to the buses and be the first people at MP for sunrise. We weren´t nearly first though, as hundreds of others who were better at getting up had the same brilliant idea. Also many people made the arduous hike to the gate instead of lazily taking the bus like we did. Many of them beat us to it. There was a rather massive line to get in at 6am. We dutifully waited and after various entry fees and other payments headed in.

Pictures can´t really capture the scope or beauty of Macchu Picchu...suffice it to say it´s quite a wonder. Though not as old as either of us thought...the Incas were around 500yrs ago. But its really quite something to be there at sunrise, I think whats so striking is the surrounding scenery...huge mountains in sillouhette in the background; drastic jagged peaks directly surrounding the ruins in the foreground. We explored the ruins for quite some time and when we reached the entrance to a steep climb to the top of Huana Picchu (think thats the name) H wouldnt let me climb it because of my toe. I still felt pain from steep inclines, so he was probably right. But I have top admit I regret it cause all the guidebooks rave about the view plus I had this urgent need to prove my mountaineering skills with all these Quechua-clad french around. Peru is truly a brag-about-it kind of vacation and you are very often surrounded by people who just did something hard. So I wanted to be one of them.

We ended up doing two other demanding but not crazy hikes, and this is where we met Picchu. Sweet, sweet Picchu followed us all the way up our hike to the Sun Gate, which is the last leg of the Inca trail. It was really lovely, and that damn dog lifted my spirits. Nothing beats hiking with a dog, even a flea-bitten creature like Picchu. So got a bit of the exercise I was craving and some companionship as well. Picchu started to join us on the way down but ended up abandoning us in favor of a rather elderly group who I´m sure needed him more. It´s OK Picchu, we still love you.