Probably the Last

Interesting stuff first:



Tuesday I spent all day mountain biking down to the Sacred Valley of the Incas. It was just me and a Dutch couple and our guide. Since these are the only two Dutch people I have ever met, my impression of the dutch right now is that they complain a lot and aren´t really that athletically fit. Granted the bikes weren´t all that great, but it wasn´t like we were only paying $45 for a full day trip, guide and lunch. I had a good time though and in my book that is all that matters! We saw the Incan ruins of Moray, which was a series of circular terraces that went down into the ground. The Incas used this place as a laboratory to experiment with different crop variations. The different levels were used to simulate the different altitudes for example potatoes grow up higher in the mountains so they were on the higher levels and corn on the lower.

Most of the trip was downhill, which is not nearly as easy as it sounds. The path was extremely steep and rocky in most places, and by no means a begginers trail. I realized half way through it that this was the first time that I had ever done any true mountain biking. The next place we went to was a the side of a mountain that had over 1000 salt pools. The Incan´s discovered a stream of salt water and began making pools to collect the salt after the water evaporated. They used the salt then for meat to make jerky, because for some reason they did not have fridges!
Finally we got back to Cuzco around 6:30, I grabbed some snacks read a little and passed out!

Yesterday morning I left for the town of Aguas Calientes. Normally you can take a train right from Cuzco, but since I bought my tickets at the last minute I had to take a bus to the town of Ollaytantambo and catch the train there. Public transportation in Peru is interesting and let´s just leave it at that. Ollaytantabo is right on the Urubambo river and was an ancient Incan city with a huge citadel towering over it. I arrived in Aguas Calientes around 2pm after some serious train trouble, and had a bite to eat and did some walking around. The city is in some beautiful surroundings but is essentially a tourist trap.

Early this morning I got up and hiked to the top of Machu Picchu instead of taking the bus. It was a good 1hr hike up the ancient Incan trail with stone stairs. Almost immediatley I went to the other end of the ruins and got in line for Waynu Picchu which is the big mountain in the backround in the postcard photos of M.P. I got my ticket to hike up later, and then explored the rest of the ruins. All I can say is that Machu Picchus is an amazing place and well deserving of its title as one of the New 7 Wonders of the World. The hike to the top of Waynu Picchu was intense and after the top I did an 1.5 hike around the back side. I was worn out by the time I finally got back to Aguas Calientes, but nothing a hot shower couldn´t fix!

Now for the less interesting somewhat sad news:

I´ve decided after a lot of thinking  to return home this weekend.  I think I was a little crazy for not planning on coming back until the day class started! I have enjoyed thoroughly the time I´ve spent here so far, and am thrilled that I got to see Machu Picchu (One more 7 Wonders down, 5 to go!) Thank you for everyone who had read this and commented and all the emails that I´ve gotten. I look forward to seeing everyone soon.

Ciao!