Machu Picchu

We begin the climb from Aquas to Machu Picchu thru mist-covered mountain. It is actually dense fog or total cloud cover!!!! You cannot see a thing. We get up to Machu Picchu thru several switch backs in the road up. Check our bags for the day but I bring with me my camera, umbrella, water and book on South America. The park is not even open yet and there is a hotel at the entrance that I guess is very expensive. We meet Jeanette from Panama City and she joins us. Our guide is Darwin. He is very knowledgeable and does have some contradictions to The Lonely Planet South America book. He takes us thru all the highlights and explains the stories and myths of what they think happened here. It appears to be a rather advanced culture that worshipped the sun. There are many more stories we´ve heard from Darwin and a couple from Quito we met on the train. We finish the tour and I appear to be the only one to tip Darwin. It is early and the restaurant in the hotel is not open yet. Janeen goes back to Aquas with Jeanette and I stay, get a sandwich from the deli and sit with 3 other girls on the tour. Diane & Mari are from the UK near Manchester and Virna is from Croatia. She is traveling for a year too. She is by herself and tells me we should see these cities passed up in Eastern Europe. She speaks of Krakou, Prague and Debrovnik. I do intend to go to Prague and Debrovnik, but had thought of Warsaw over Krakou. I join them to go up to the hut of the Caretaker of the Funerary Rock. The girls go on to climb Machu Picchu mountain and I take their pictures hiking towards the top where the Inca Trail comes into Machu Picchu and I head in the direction of the young mountain Huayna Picchu because I do not have enough time to join them on their trek. It is closed because of rain and has been for 3 days. Oh well, I wander back thru the ruins and sit to enjoy the tranquility of this mystical place. It is truly a magnificent sight and spot. I watch the people and the llamas as well, and I think about this lost place and the people who inhabited it. Inca pre-eminance only lasted about 100 years. The ninth Inca, Pachacutec, gave the empire it´s first bloody taste of conquest. Over the next 25 years the empire grew to the borders of Equador and Columbia and to the deserts of northern Chile. His son, the succesor Tupoc Yupangui was every bit his father´s son and it was upon his death in 1493 that the empire had reached it´s territorial apogee. Huayna Capac, the 12th Inca, rulled for the last time. Europeans had arrived in the new World and were making inroads into the continent. Shortly beofre his death from a European disease, he divided his empire between his 2 sons, Atahualpa, born of a Quitan mother who took the north and the pure-blooded native Cuzquiñan Huascar who took Cuzco and the south. Atahualpa killed his half brother and a priest from Cuzco killed him after baptising him at some sacred place in the north. This is the account I heard from the Quito couple on the train back to Cuzco. I catch the bus back to Aquas at one, as prearranged with Janeen. I did buy a beautiful alpaca and silk scarf in Machu Picchu before I left. These are beautiful pieces. As we descend by bus, some kid races the bus down the mountain side, running along side the bus and before the bus makes a hairpin turn he flies down the steps to the road below and continues running along the bus and flying down the steps till we reach the bottom and he jumps on the bus for tips!!! The lady beside me from Quebec claims they are exploiting these children. Who knows??? I tip the kid small change and get his picture. Janeen meets me at the bus stop and has the tickets back to Cuzco, however, the astrodome ticket was for 1:30 which we have missed and not for the train we had been told we would take at 3:30. The ticket is stamped on the back though for the backpacker train leaving at 4:20. We try to get on an earlier train but have to buy another ticket for $30, so decide we will wait for the 4:20 train. We finally board the train and sit with the nicest people from Quito, a doctor and his wife who livedf or many years in the states. We talk all the way, Janeen and the doctor talking healthcare and the wife and I talking about things to do in Quito. The train stops in Ollantaytambo, half way to Cuzco!!!! Everyone is getting off and the Quito couple tell us it is the end of the line and don´t we have a bus ticket to Cuzco???? I did wonder why there were only 3 cars to this train!!!! We have to find a ride from here. Well the doctor saves us with his perfect command of Spanish and gets us a taxi to share with a couple from Chile. We ride in the taxi thru the Sacred Valley to Cuzco about an hour and a half away. We have paid $10 each and are so appreciative to have been saved by this guy. The cab driver is a riot, speaking to me in English which is a lot better than my Spanish, but still leaves a lot to be desired. The Chilean couple has many conversations with the driver and the driver in between speaks his broken English to me telling me various spots along the road. By this time we are pissed at Norka, our Cuzco travel lady. The driver knows our hostels and the back roads into Cuzco as the traffic is terrible with huge trucks blocking the main road into town. We complain to the people at the hostel about Norka and we have her cell phone number so they call her for us. She comes to the hostel and is seriously concerned about what has happened and returns the extra $8 we each paid for the astrodome, the $1 she owed each of us and the $10 each we paid for the taxi from Ollantaytambo. The whole trip ends up costing us $127 each. Norka was so upset that we did not get the prearranged bus or taxi return from Ollantaytambo and there was no problem with her returning the money to us. We were absolutely dumbfounded!!!! We feel very happy about the issue being resolved and I think I have to work on not jumping to conclusions!!!! Janeen showers and gets her things together for our exit tomorrow and I go to the internet to check emails. Amy has gotten the package I sent from Mexico City. YEH!!! They all loved their stuff. I try to sleep and tonight I have a problem. Finally get to sleep but wake up to pee and then can´t get back to sleep again. This usually does not happen to me. OH WELL.........on to Quito tomorrow..........