Camino Inca, Day 3

Friday, June 19

We had our customary wake-up call with coca tea (it is a wonderful motivation to wake up in the morning when someone hand delivers tea) at 5:50 a.m. Breakfast was pan, toast, hot quinoa juice, scrambled eggs with onion and sausage (quite artfully done), and coffee/tea. We were on the road by around 7 a.m. It was not quite a steep as the previous day, and more of a general slope than tall boulder staircases. We passed by the ruins of Runkuraqay, where Freddy gave us a lecture about the lookout.

We reached the 2nd peak (3,800 m) between 9 and 10 a.m., from where we could see Dead Woman's Pass, where we had been the day before. From afar, Dead Woman's Pass looks vaguely like the profile of a woman laying against a rock pillow, although Freddy thinks that the pass was also named because people historically died in the pass. Nowadays, an average of 2 people die per year die on the trail for cardiac arrest. We climbed up a nearby peak to overlook the 2nd peak, and Everett even ran all the way up to the top of the ridge to see over the mountains on the other side of our valley. Then, another deep descent, and we passed by the ruins of Sayaqmarca, which is only accessible by a steep and narrow staircase (hence its name, "inaccessible town"). We spent some time in this impressive ruin, with some more stories from Freddy. We passed through an Inca tunnel, which is really more a big space carved out of rock for the path to continue through, with stairs.

After a less steep downhill to lunch, where we were met with chicha morada. Lunch began with an appetizer of pizza, which was the first pizza we had eaten in Peru, despite the plethora of pizzarias and Italian restaurants that dotted the cities we had visited. Coincidentally, it was also the first time that Apu had ever cooked pizza on the Inca trail, and he wanted us to tell him how it was - it was delicious. I have no idea how he made it without an oven. We also ate quinoa soup, rice, a chicken casserole with fries in it, lamb stew, and some kind of egg pancake, followed by tea.

After lunch, it was more hiking through cloud forest, and we hit the campsite third peak (3,600 m). Most of us climbed a small lookout hill to better see the mountain of Machu Picchu from afar, and Scott and I took an extra 30 minutes to climb a nearby peak used for religious ceremonies. After descending from the third peak, we passed by the ruins of Phuyupatamarka. After this were approximately 1,500 steps carved from granite (I have no idea how anyone counted this... there were many places that were graded, and not steps). We moved from cloud forest into proper rain forest, and large clusters of flowers and orchids started cropping up along the trail.

Near the campgrounds, there was a split in the path: to the right, a direct route to the campgrounds (30 min), and to the left, a 50 min route that went through Intipata, a more recently discovered series of agricultural terraces overlooking the valley. Intipata was pretty incredible, and Scott and I sat for several minutes enjoying the view before a bunch of the rest of the group caught up.

Apparently Don Juan had run ahead early that day and snagged us a choice campsite, which was further down the mountain, but also the most quiet, and near the beginning of the trail for the fourth day. As usual, all the tents were set up already, and I took the opportunity to enjoy the only hot shower on the Inca trail. Dinner was at 7, and we had soup with fried potatoes and vegetables, mashed potatoes with beef, fried rice, stuffed chicken, and stuffed potatoes. As a treat, we were given some sangria as well.

The big surprise was when Apu brought in a birthday cake for Everett. In the morning, Evan had mentioned to Freddy that the next day was Everett's birthday, and somehow with just a fire, ingredients, and 1.5 hours of sweat, Apu was able to fashion and decorate a very decent tasting cake. We didn't have candles, just matches, and Everett blew the matches out a little too hard, getting frosting all over Erin and Rachel. Freddy then told Everett that it was a Peruvian tradition that the person of honor had to take a bite out of the cake before it was cut, but this was really an excuse to shove Everett's face into the cake.

After dinner, we were left to work out the tips for the porters, and afterwards, we presented the tip to Apu, Tiburtio, and Martin; Erin gave a little speech displaying our gratitude for all of the hard work that the porters had put in carrying the equipment and food, bags for the sick, and for being so kind to us. We went to sleep around 9, which was rather late for us.

Back in the States!

Sorry for the delay with the blog, we got back to the U.S. on Tuesday, and I have been busy recuperating from a GI bug that I caught in the last two days in Peru.

Camino Inca, Day 2

Thursday, June 18

Well, the nearby farm animals were not very kind to us, so I woke up on my own at 4 a.m. to roosters crowing. One of them was a juvenile that did not have its crow very well rehearsed, and it was quite painful to listen to. Scott was particularly peeved by the donkey braying. Our official wake up call was at 6 a.m., with Wilfredo and some porters offering us coca tea, with or without sugar, directly into the tent. It is a wonderful way to wake up in the morning :).

Because it was cold in the morning, the water for handwashing was warm, having been heated for us while we were snug in our sleeping bags. Breakfast was bread, fruit salad with sprinkles on top (it made for an interesting crunchy texture), pancakes decorated with caramel, and a porridge of corn and banana, among other things. And of course, there was coffee, tea, etc.

The beginning of day 2 was the steepest ascent, and I was about 5 minutes behind our perpetual leaders, Everett, Evan, and Laura, at about 1 hour and 45 minutes. At about 10 a.m., when everyone from our group had arrived, we had a break for "second breakfast," which were popcorn (yay!), biscuits, and ham and cheese sandwiches. We then took a scenic detour through some plains, where we encountered some llamas, and I tricked one into taking a picture with me.

Afterwards, was the dreaded final climb through the cloud forests up to Dead Woman's Pass (it is named so because from afar, the pass looks like a supine woman, although Freddy believes it is also because many people used to die in this pass), and we summited around 11:40 a.m. The view at the top was tremendous... we could see mountain peaks on both sides of the pass and glaciers from the direction from which we came.

Freddy had encouraged us to climb up to the "nipple," which is a relatively small peak directly to the right of Dead Woman's Pass. I was about a quarter up, when I realized that the wind was very strong and blowing the clouds from the valley straight over the pass, so I was climbing back down to get my fleece when I heard, "cheers, mate!" Confused, I kept walking only to realize that I was behind a group picture (of what, I have no idea, because the background was terrible), and I quickly jumped out of the way. Later, as I was climbing back up, a woman said to me in a thick British accent, "Oy, didja know you were in my pic-tcha?" I told her I was sorry, but honestly, in this era of digital cameras, you can just take another one. Also, when you go on a trip with 400 people, you can't expect to take photos without anyone else in them if you are standing in the middle of a path. In any case, the Aussies and Kiwis from my group enjoyed my rendition of these events at dinner time.

Climbing up the "nipple" was not very long, but it was very steep and slippery, and only later did Freddy tell us that he was kidding, and that he did not think we would actually climb up! On my way up with Erin, Scott yelled at us, "don't look down the other side!" which, of course we did; it was a sheer drop. The view from the top was worth it, though, and although Erin and I had barely got to the top when Freddy was yelling at us to come down for a group picture, we decided to stay up 15 minutes as the clouds parted to drink in the view. Earlier in day 1, Freddy had told us to bring a small rock up from the bottom for a ceremonial offering to Pacha Mama, Mother Earth, at Dead Woman's Peak, the highest point of the trail, at 4,200 meters. Erin and I, however, left our two little rocks perched at the very peak of the nipple. Climbing down was a little frightening, but we made it with a little help from the strong grass that was growing on the side of the mountain.

We took a group photo in Dead Woman's Pass with three of us carrying Freddy, and then Freddy performed the rock cermony, where we stacked the rocks with some coca leaves and a rum offering for Pacha Mama. Apparently the view can often be obscured by mist and clouds, but we were blessed with clear skies for the whole day.

We had already hiked 9 km that morning, and the remaining hike of the day was a 3 km descent down, which I took at a leisurely pace to preserve my knees for the following days, and I was passed by porters and a Danish couple, who are competitive runners. The campsite, Pacamayo, is at 3,600 m. I arrived at the campsitearound 1:30 p.m., where I was given some chicha morada by the porters, and then I joined Everett and Laura sunbathing as we waited for lunch. Some people from our group took cold showers in the waterfall. This campsite had cold showers and running water, but I elected to take a half body "bath" with my towel because the water was too cold.

Lunch was at 2:30 p.m., after everyone had arrived. While some groups had lunch at 10:30 a.m., Freddy thought it was best to have a light meal before the ascent to Dead Woman's Pass as from his experience, some people had difficulty holding down their food due to the altitude. The meal was, as always, worth waiting for. Chicken noodle soup was followed by lmo saltado, fried fish, a traditional potato dish (by the way, there are 3,000 types of potatoes in Peru), apple pie covered with caramel, and tea.

At around 3:30 p.m., Freddy decided to introduce us to the porters. Unfortunately, I cannot recall all of their names. Apu is the Head Chef, and he carries around 15 kg so that he can get to the campsite early. Tiburtio is the Assistant Chef, and is still in training. Martin is the Head Porter, and Freddy claimed it was because he was the strongest, although as we came to learn, a lot of Freddy's stories are simply stories, and must be approached with a grain of salt. Emilio was the oldest porter, at age 57, followed by Nicodemus, at age 47. Cesar was the youngest, at age 20. Juan, or Don Juan, was we liked to call him, is the fastest porter, and always sent ahead to bring essential equipment or to procure certain campsites. It was fun to introduce ourselves to the porters and tell them what part of the world we are from. We found out that at night, the porters empty out the cooking and dining tent, put down a waterproof layer, and sleep together in sleeping bags. We learned how to say "sherpaike," which is thank you, in Quechua, and "chulpachichi," which you can ask me about in person, as this is a family blog.

At 6 p.m., we had some hot chocolate and popcorn in the dining tent, and it was so much fun to learn about where everyone was from, and where they had been traveling. I think this was the largest collection of Aussies and Kiwis that I had ever encountered, and it was interesting to see how different aspects of British culture have percolated through Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian culture. At 7 p.m., we were served dinner, during which we were supposed to eat slightly less portions so that we would not get sick from the altitude. However, I think most of the people in our group were astonished with how much I ate the entire trip, given my size, and the fact that some of them were so sick that they did not want to eat at all. Garth was sick for the majority of days 2 and 3, and K.K. had a fever on day 2. But given the menu and Apu's cooking, I can't be blamed - we had potato chowder, rice, and chicken stew with potatoes. Evan opened up a bottle of Inka Cola to share that he had carried from Cusco, which promptly exploded due to the altitude. Inka Cola is a yellow soda that tastes kind of like carbonated bubble gum. As a surprise for having survived the toughest climb of the trek, we were also served hot spiced rum, which had some apple and orange juice, and cinnamon. And, of course, we had tea. After dinner, Freddy told us a ghost story that he claims the porters believe in, where the ghosts wander the night and grab the ankles of sleeping people; however, I think he told the story mainly so that he could put on a spooky mask.

We spent some time star-gazing and staring at the Milky Way - the sky was incredibly clear, although it was the coldest night of the trek. We went to sleep around 8:30 p.m. to the sound of the waterfall, which, no doubt, contributed to my needing to get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Back in Cusco

I don´t want to make this too confusing, but I am going to blog about the events of today, as well, so that I don´t fall behind of what we have done so far.

Today, we got up at a leisurely 9 a.m., and had breakfast in the hostel (bread, tea, coffee). At around 11 a.m., we went souvenir shopping. At noon, we met up with Garth, Rachel, Erin, Scott, and Rose for lunch, and we ended up going to an Irish pub (The Real McCoy) because they wanted some safe food, following the Inca trail. I had a spinach pancake stuffed with chicken, bacon, and mayo, that was fantastic. A lot of the group got bangers and mash, staying true to their former Commonwealth tastes.

Evan and I hung out at the marketplace for an hour while Everett made a phone call to Kristy, and we tried a couple new types of fruit and chocolate. Around 3 p.m., our friends met up with us, and we introduced them to the especial juice mix, much to the delight of the woman at the juice stand, the same one from which we had gotten the juice the day before the Inca trail. I also saw some dried llama fetus, which is used for offerings to Pacha Mama, llama nose for consumption, some large animal testicles, and some love potions.

We spent the afternoon taking care of internet business (blogging for me) and we went to dinner in Plaza de Armas. We have become very comfortable with picking the corner where we can get tons of people working at restaurants to compete for our business, offering free salad bars or free pisco sours. Tonight, I had a pisco sour, Creole soup, alpaca steak with veggies and fried potatoes, ice cream, and chicha morada for S/20 ($6.67). We are definitely going to miss being in Cusco.

Tomorrow we have a noon flight to Lima, and then a midnight flight to Atlanta, so hopefully we will have a couple hours to explore Lima and catch some nice meals before we leave Peru!

We survived the Inca Trail!

Sorry it´s been a while since the last post, but we got back very late last night and I have not yet had time today to update you all. I am going to slowly try to catch up with our experiences.

Wed, June 17, Day 1 of el Camino Inca

We woke up at 4:20 a.m. and our hostel was nice enough to make us breakfast, including not only coca tea and bread, but fried egg as well. I was just getting ready to start on my egg, when the Peru Trek company showed up 5 minutes early at 5:15. They were nice enough to let us finish eating before we got on the as of yet, empty bus. We picked up the rest of the 16 people from our group, and met our Head Guide, Frederico (Freddy), and Assitant Guide, Wilfredo (Will). At about 9 a.m., we reached a tourist stop near the Urubamba River to stop for ¨second breakfast,¨ where Evan, Everett, and I had some cafe con leche. I elected to buy a walking stick for S/3, which I think helped me a lot along the trail, although the two Evs declined. The bus continued onto an extremely narrow single lane dirt path, and we had quite a few encounters with oncoming traffic. The most entertaining incident was when our bus met another empty tour bus, and the drivers spent 5 minutes honking at each other, making angry hand gestures. Finally, our bus driver made the other concede, by offering to switch buses and drive the other bus in reverse.

At about 10 a.m., we finally arrived at Ollataytambo, where we picked up our bed rolls that we would sleep on, and met our group of 16. Erin, who was my tenting roommate for the trip, is a doctor from New Zealand. Garth is originally Canadian, although he has lived in Australia and now lives in Scotland, with his girlfriend Rachel. Rachel, unfortunately, was feeling nauseous (possibly from the altitude), and was sick for the first day. Laura and Allison are Canadian undergrads studying abroad in Peru. Scott and Rose are a couple from Australia. Paul is, coincidentally, our classmate Nick Turner´s cousin from Wisconson, and he was traveling with his sister, Christina, and her boyfriend, Nick. Lastly, there were Nupur, her boyfriend, K.K., and Vashist, all of whom went to University of Michigan together and are now working in Silicon Valley. Vassith works for Apple, and we tried to weasle some information out of him about the upcoming iPhone in 2010, to no avail. Additionally, our group of 16 had 20 porters, who were all locals from one village who would carry our tents and food, in addition to their own supplies.

At about 10:30, we began our hike by passing through the control gate, where we had to show our passports and tickets. In order to conserve the path, only 400 individuals are allowed passage per day, including guides and porters. Below us, near the river, all of the porters were going through a checkpoint where their bags were being weighed, as the Peruvian government recently ruled that porters cannot carry more than 25 kg. Earlier, some of them carried an unfathomable 50 or 60 kg. Our company, Peru Treks, furnished the porters with real proper backpacks, warm jackets, and proper shoes (although many of them preferred their recycled tire sandles); however, there were porters that we noticed for several companies that did not have jackets and still used alpaca blankets tied around their chest to carry the cargo. The hike for the most part of the first day was relatively flat, and the porters blew past us on the trail, even though our packs were 10 kg, and some people had hired porters to carry the majority of their belongings. At the time, we did not understand why the porters ran so fast.

At noon, we arrived at our first ruin, Patallacta, which is a heavily terraced mountainside above the river. We learned that the terracing was to prevent erosion, to create different microclimates for growing crops, and most importantly, so that the temples of the city would be close to the sun.

At 1:30 p.m., we arrived at the lunch stop, which was marked by the porter Emilio, waving a yellow flag, and we were astonished with what awaited us. Each of us was met with a cup of juice as we were urged to set down our packs on top of a blue tarp. Later, I would learn that this juice was made by boiling water, adding powder, and then cooling the container in a stream until it was cool. A dining tent had been set up for us, complete with table settings with folded napkins and fold up stools. Outside of the tent, little basins had been set up with soap for us to wash our hands, and the water was changed after each washing by a porter, and we were given towels with which to dry ourselves. Lunch started with an appetizer of cheese and avocado, which was decorated with pink mayonnaise. Next came the garlic bread sticks, chicken noodle soup, spaghetti with vegetables, fried trout, cucumbers, and rice. The meal ended with a cup of hot water, and a choice of tea (anis, chamomile, black, or coca) or coffee. I cannot even begin to describe how wonderfully the food was presented and tasted, and it was cooked using propane stoves. Immediately after we finished, the porters began very efficiently disassembling the tables, stools, and tent, and running off to our next rest stop. We were fed and treated like kings the entire way, and the porters were all extremely kind, if shy.

At this point, we had hiked 7 k.m., and for the next 2 hours or so, we hiked the remaining 5 k.m. Surprisingly, my legs felt very fresh, and I was only bothered by some old blisters that were still healing from Colca Canyon. We arrived at Wayllabamba, our campsite, at 4:15 p.m, where our tents for the night had already been set up for us. Each tent was meant for 2 inhabitants, and they were very roomy. We went to climb a nearby ruin and watched some of the porters play a soccer game. Later, Freddy, Scott, and Garth joined a team and won.

Dinner was at 6:30, and consisted of vegetable soup, followed by rice, chicken with orange sauce, potato cake (this has no English name). Because Noopur is vegetarian, she was always cooked a separate vegetarian entree, but she was not feeling particularly hungry so she shared her vegetable stir fry with us. Desert was apple pudding with apple pieces, followed by tea and coffee.

The campsite was very simple, and we slept on a patch of fluffy grass flanked by a small stream and a cliff. There were two latrines and a flushing toilet, but no running water, so no showers for the night. Overall, the day had not been very strenuous, although Evan, Everett, and I may have been broken in by our Colca Canyon hike. The backpack was very comfortable, and I never felt like I was carrying 20 lbs. on my back. We went to sleep around 8 p.m., although I was not tired, and slept to the sound of the stream trickling.

Cusco

Today was a day of rest before the hardcore climbing begins. We got up at 8 a.m., possibly the latest that we have woken up this entire trip. We spent the early morning moving hostels, and then went to visit Qorykancha, the former Inca sun temple, upon which a Spanish convent had been built. Supposedly, the top two feet of the walls of Qorykancha used to be lined with gold leaf, and the major treasures of the Incas were stored within this temple. We shopped around for some arts and crafts, and Everett, as usual, loved the attention of being solicited by everyone.

We visited the largest flea market that I have ever encountered, which was housed under a gigantic corrogated steel roof. They sold everything under the sun barring real estate and furniture, including all sorts of fruits, vegetables, meats, clothes, toiletries, trinkets, and prepared foods. Evan and I tried some chicha out of a pretty sketchy looking bucket, and the three of us shared a blender full of especial fruit drink, made fresh for us. In addition to five or six fruits, some of which we had never seen or tasted before, the drink included Cusqueña malta, milk, egg, honey, molasses, and probably a few other ingredients. It tasted like a smoothie-shake-beer, very filling. We had a lunch of chicken noodle soup, with boiled chicken leg, vegetables, and salsa picante. Somehow, Everett and Evan were not hungry and shared one of these bowls, whereas I not only ate my own bowl, but half of their chicken as well.

After lunch, we perused the Catedral de Cusco, which is the first cathedral built in the Americas. It is really three churches in one, and had been under constant construction until the late 1990s. I have never seen such a staggering amount of gold and silver shaped into religious lore, and the cathedral was filled with impressive facades, paintings, and figurines. We climbed into the crypts to see where some of the Archbishops had been buried.

We sat for some time in the Plaza de Armas, taking in the beautiful view of the plaza and the surrounding hills of houses, and were accosted by a variety of locals trying to sell us paintings, intricately carved gourds, headwear... in the end, each of us bought 1 or 2 paintings. There was a little girl, around 8 years old, that was peddling little finger puppets made out of yarn, and I refused her in the early afternoon, even though I thought her puppet of a puma with its own puma hand puppet was adorable. Her friend asked her how many she had sold, and she said, ¨nada,¨and then her friend pointed her finger at me and said ¨tu asesinado.¨However, when I saw that the little girl was still hustling on the street at dinnertime, I felt terribly for her, and bought the little puma puppet for S/1. In the late afternoon, we had coffee and deserts overlooking Plaza de Armas. Evan and I ventured into Catedral de las Compañias (bells) and climbed to the high second floor, where we had a perfect view of Plaza de Armas and the surrounding countryside. We even climbed up a barred staircase into the attic right below the bells, which had been poorly maintained, and luckily none of us fell through the old wood.

Back in our hostel, we packed for our epic journey tomorrow, trying to unload as much unnecessary material as possible so as to lighten our loads. I felt like I was in a swashbuckling movie, where we need to dump as much junk from our ship as possible so as not to be caught by pirates. Hopefully, I have gotten my pack to between 15-20 lbs.

We met up with Tracey and Megan from sandboarding Cerro Blanco for dinner.. we had tried to meet up by email, but actually met up by chance in the Plaza. After playing the restaurant hustlers on the street against each other, we ended up having dinner at the same place as last night, except this time with a free salad bar and free pisco sour. Nothing fancy for dinner tonight - spaghetti bolognase to carboload for the impending hike tomorrow. Afterwards, the two Es and I went to Paddy´s, purportedly the world´s highest elevation owned Irish pub at 11,156 ft., where we each had a Guiness.

Tomorrow, we have breakfast at 4:50 a.m. in the hostel, then at 5:20, we are being picked up by Peru Treks by bus. We will bus for 2 or 3 hours before a stop for breakfast, and a chance to buy water and snacks. At around 10, we will start the hike, with a total of 12k for the first day (supposedly, around 5 hours of hiking). This is my last post before we return very late Saturday night, and I promise I will have a lot of material to post - I will write with old fashioned pen and paper while we are trekking.

More buses

Our hostel in Puno was extremely cold, and I would have traded the TV in the room for some internet access or a little heat in an instant, even though Harry Potter 3 was on.

7:30 a.m. taxi ride to the bus station in Puno. A security guard at the bus station entrance - where are you from, Estados Unidos, where are you going, Cuzco, where are your passports, aqui estan, ok we need you to come to the office with me, but why what did we do wrong, never mind, you may pass. Inside the bus station it is a ruckus, voices competing, ArequipaarequipaarequipaAREQUIPA!! as if with each repetition you might be more enticed to buy a ticket to that location, from that company.

7 hours in the front of the bus, where the sun pours into the windows and no windows or air system offer respite from the heat. All I ate on the bus ride was an orange and some Ranch Pringles; our previous bus experience lulled us into believing that every bus ride was a small marketplace of food. Rural Peru is full of unfinished brick and concrete buildings, the stairs exposed on all sides and steel supports for future upper floors sticking up like thousands of antennae searching for money to finish the work. The bus driver does not exceed 50 m.p.h. the entire trip, taking care to drive around potholes so as not to damage his precious bus. He passes other vehicles slowly in the left lane, scattering the three wheeled cabs coming towards us. Where there is road construction in Peru, there is a dirt path detour, and our bus driver drives in the center to stay out of the mud, nearly forcing a van full of angry locals off el camino. A like-minded bus driver approaches from the opposite direction, and our buses play chicken, each unwilling to cede the center of the road until the last second.

We arrived in Cusco at 3 p.m., without having eaten a proper meal all day. Our cab driver has no idea where our hostel is, and we spend 20 minutes driving around Cusco as he jumps out to ask random locals, donde esta el Hospadaje Turistica Recoleta? We eventually discover that there are two streets named Pumacahua, and he demands more soles to pay for his inadequacy. There is a reason this hostel is ranked No. 4 in all of South America: WiFi, internet, an anteroom to our 3 bed private, a roof porch, TV, and a REAL SHOWER. All of our other showers have had an electric switch that must be flipped before the water is zapped hot immediately before it reaches your cold tired body. Evan and Everett were shocked several times, but my main complaint has been unreliable warmth - either too cold or too hot, with no way to control the temperature. In this hostel, they burn incense at night in the lobby so it smells nice when you come home.

Although we wanted to eat, we needed to go to the office of our Inca Trail trek to pay off the rest of what we owed and to get briefed on our trip. We will be hiking for four days; 12k the first day, then 12k, 15k, and then 5k. The second day is supposedly the most difficult, where we top out at 4200 meters. The third day has a variety of ruins to peruse along the way, and has a steep descent at the end. On the last day, we will wake up at 4 or 5 a.m. to try to be the first group to get to Machu Pichu at sunrise. I will try to write more about this tomorrow.

We went to Plaza de Armas for dinner, and we picked an amazing restaurant with a view of the Plaza. Cusco is much more touristy than the other cities that we have been to thus far. It also feels larger and more European than the other cities, with narrow cobblestone roads and even skinnier sidewalks. We were surrouded by a dozen people, please, we have excellent food, is not expensive, can sit on balcony and see plaza, want to go white-water rafting, need good place to stay for tonight, massage, please good massage?

For $40 for the 3 of us, we had an unlimited salad bar, which had hot peppers, salsa picante, cauliflower, plantains, romaine lettuce, grains of different types, and several dishes that I cannot describe. We had Cuzquena malta, a local beer that ads say is acknowledged to be one of the finest in the world (really? I mean, it is good, but, why have I never heard of it before?). And our main course was a huge barbecque platter that we split, with alpaca kebab, grilled alpaca, grilled lamb, lamb kidney, beef heart, fried trout, fried potatoes, and barbecqued cuy, or guinea pig. Now, before you go all PETA on me, guinea pig is commonly eaten in Peru because it is in great abundance in the countryside, and now sometimes they farm them for eating. It has a great flavor, kind of like rabbit, but Evan describes it as "minty." We ate like kings and made up for the other 2 meals that we had missed earlier in the day.

We have set up a flight back to Lima after our Inca trail and hostel stays for our time in Cusco, so for the next day, we can relax and prepare for the grueling wondrous hike ahead.