A wee bit o cheatin

machu picchu through the early morning mist
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Wow!! time is really flying...I thought it was Tuesday at the latest...turns out its actually Thursday!  Anyway, just got back from an unforgetable adventure in Lake Titicaca and am back in Puno.  Tomorrow we are to awake at 6AM (which has unfortunately become customary on this trip) and catch a bus to La Paz!  Ohh yeah, and as it turns out those pics I uploaded actually did appear on the site, but they are under "the creator god" section...sorry, don't know how, or even if I can fix it without starting over.

llamas posing for the tourists
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Ahhh yes, Machu Picchu, the legend, the mystery, the solitude, the theme park??  As I already mentioned, there had been a land slide which forced us to alter our plans.  So we basically had to follow the train tracks from Inti Punku to Aguas Calientes, and this last 4KM legg of the trek could not have been more painful for me...I was starting to feel extremely ill at this point and the stomach cramps were becoming unbearable.  I did eventually make it, though I was certainly dragging my ass the whole way...luckily for me this fourth night, which was supposed to be spent in a tent, would be spent in the comfort of a hotel room with a shower and most importantly, a toilet...though it did not have a seat!!  Anyway, I skipped out on the pre-dinner tea and appees and just went straight to bed...I re-joined the group for dinner and made a miraculous recovery after a couple of sangrias!!! yup, wine and alcohol soaked fruit solved my ailments...I can't explain it, but it did!  So that night the group, along with our Inca trail tour guide and our full tour guide went out for a few well deserved pints...believe it or not they actually had me up salsa dancing...who am I to reject a beautiful south american woman???  anyway, a good time was had by all and the night life in Auguas Calientes (hot springs) turned out to be great.  The unfortunate part?? the rest of my group went back to the hotel early as they opted for a 5am wake up call to get on the first bus to Machu Picchu...I stayed behind and partied with the locals for awhile...damn those peruvian women!!

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Anyway, I did manage to roll out of bed in time to meet up with my group at 5:30 and it really did turn out to be worth it because by about 10 the place was jammed packed full of tourists.  Yeah, even at 6 in the morning we had to stand in a queue for about 20 minutes waiting to be admitted to the site...which I quickly labelled a theme park as it felt like we were at Canada's wonderland or something.  Don't get me wrong, the place was magnificent, but when bus load after train load after bus load arrive every 5-10 minutes it quickly loses its majestic worth. We spent a good 3 hours with our tour guide exploring the various rooms of the ruins.  Once we were given our 2 hours of free time the group and myself found we were much too tired and soar to climb anymore and so retired to the "cafeteria".  I'll give you one attempt at guessing what song was being played on the harp no less...yup..el condor pasa...followed by obbla dee obbla da...needless to say the lack of sleep had as all in stiches...who the hell plays obbla dee on a harp?

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Machu Picchu was discovered by Hiram Bingham (or something like that) in 1911...though the locals knew about its existance all the time...actually when Bingham arrived at the site, there were actually 2 families living on the site.  Their quick expulsion was soon to follow as it was deemed to be an archeological sight...however, this did not stop lord Bingham from raiding the place of its emense value.  The man arrived as a regular dude and left as a multi millionaire, to make things worse, everything that he stoll was "given" (more like sold) to many different museums...in the U.S!! The Peruvian government has made many attempts to retrieve this artifacts but due to a clause in an agreement signed between the two governments, it has never been given back.  The clause?  The artifacts were to be "loaned" to the U.S for further investigation/research etc but it did not state when, if ever, they had to be returned!  Anyway, this, like many of the other sites, was a retreat destination reserved only for the noble and shamen etc.  So important were its inhabitants that it remained protected from the spanish at all costs. The routes which were visible from the river sides were destroyed and thus never found.  The spanish were looking for an "elderado" or golden city which they were convinced existed somewhere easily accessible from the river...the Inca constructed various decoy cities and sites to misguide the conquerors and thus this site was the only "discovered" site to remain fully intact...well except for the natural erosion.  Once you reach the summit, it is easy to see why it became the desired destination of the Incan rulers.

surrounding mountains at Machu Picchu
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well thats all I can write off the top of my head for now...perhaps I will write a summary of this adventure along the Inca trail later on...adios for now!