Another thing I've learned about traveling in third world developing nations like Peru and England for example, is that everything is possible, nothing is certain. Our four day bike and hike through the jungle to Machu Picchu became a 3 day event thanks to a one day national strike. I'm not sure who was protesting. I think it was the farmers. But it shut down the all the main roads and transportation services throughout the country. It was considered too dangerous to be traveling while the roads were closed off by hordes of possibly drunken demonstrators throughout the relatively lawless countryside. So with a day lost to hanging out in Cusco while the locals brought attention to their plight of plunging potato prices, Doug and I had to forfeit a day of jungle trekking. The following day, after the strike ended, we finally started the adventure. A four hour bus ride into the mountains dropped us off somewhere around 13,000 feet (4000m) and we mounted our half-ass maintained bicycles and began descending into the jungle. Reaching speeds of really fast and sometimes ridiculously slow, I found myself trying to twist the throttle to get moving....only the motorbikes were back in Cusco. Upon reaching the pointless village of Alfamayo, the paved tarmac turned to rough dirt road and the fun factor kicked up a notch...that is until the first uphill section arrived after over 30 miles of dive bombing the mountain. Arriving in the jungle town of Santa Maria, we welcomed the warm, humid jungle air. From here they shuttled us in a private taxi to Santa Teresa...this was the part we were supposed to hike but thanks to the local farmers, we are skipping. In Santa Teresa, we joined an odd mix of Argentinians, Czechs, Germans, and French for our hike to Aguas Calientes, otherwise known as Machu Picchu Village. Like most places near Cusco, the scenery is exotic and it's actually warm down at this elevation. After lunch in A.G. we had this bright idea to climb a mountain called Putucusi for a preliminary view of the Lost City. It was a tough climb and we paid dearly the next day but the photos and views were worth the sore legs. This was my second time to Machu Picchu and I have to say it is just as impressive as the first time I was here in 2005. The fact that an entire city of huge rocks was painstakingly constructed on top of a mountain of this stature and then suddenly abandoned is nothing less than astonishing. And finally, thanks go my adventurous visitor, Dr. Douglas A. Freese, PhD in bushes and plants and ****, for taking all the cool photos you're going to see of the jungle flowers. Seriously, I can't believe how many plant varieties are here....we even saw Poinsettia growing wild; a species I thought was native only to the home and garden section in Wal-Mart at Christmas time. Doug's trip is finished and he's on his way back to the USA now to return to his job thingy and the conventional routine of ordinary American. As for me, I will carry on here in South America as a beacon of hope and freedom. A Sentinel, guarding the way for those who wish to screw off endlessly around the globe, wherever the sun and wind may take them. That was ridiculously dramatic. I'm actually just waiting for George and Lisa to arrive this Saturday.