Sacred Valley & Machu Picchu 1st September - 4th September 2006 We are up early for the bus to Pisac and its one last great breakfast before we head off into the Sacred valley, about 32km from Cusco. Why is it called the Sacred valley you may ask? Well apparently the valley itself is in the shape of a snake which was a sacred animal to the Inca people. Alrightly then. The bus takes an hour and it is quite a windy journey through the mountains and then down into the valley. We arrive in Pisac and check into a nice little hostal (bit pricey though at 35 dorrar a night) overlooking the main square (Plaza de Armas naturally) and head out for a few Empanadas. At the little open air café we spot a load of Guinea pigs in the corner in a splendid little village constructed just for them. Little do they know that they are considered a delicacy so whilst they may be living it up at the moment it wont be too long until the fattest ones are on somebodys plate! The Inca ruins at Pisac are some 600m above the town perched on a great vantage point overlooking the whole valley. It's a bit of a struggle but after an hour and a quarter we make it to the top and like I said before the views are stunning. We have a look around what used to obviously be a highly defensible position and a couple of the thatched houses have been restored. In the late afternoon we stroll back down the hill, its starting to get a little windy and the market stall owners are all packing up. In the evening we head out to find the internet (none available) and then for a beer and a bite to eat. We find a great little cheap café with loads of board games and stuff and Stu beats Amy at scrabble (possibly because half of the letters are missing). The next day we have another good breakfast and spend an hour or so wandering around the excellent local market buying multiple gifts. We then hop on another local bus to Ollantaytambu, the site of some more Inca ruins and a nice little village. This will also be where we will be catching the train from tomorrow to Aguas Calientes for Machu Picchu. We arrive in early afternoon and our luck is in once more as we find another great little hostal for 25 dorrar a night. We immediately head out for lunch and Stu goes for the full heart attack inducing meat, egg and cheese burger whilst Amy settles for a ham and cheese sandwich. Feeling somewhat lethargic (Stu mainly) we head off in the afternoon to the Inca ruins. Again, they are well strategically placed overlooking the valley in both directions and some of the stonework is excellent. Other than that it has to be said that its just another ruin in a nice location. In the evening we play scrabble (Amy thrashes Stu 369pts to 317), update the internet and head out to a local restaurant for possibly the best pizza we have had on the South American leg of our trip (they've even cooked the topping and everything). The local beer (Cusqueña) goes down very well and life is pretty sweet. In the morning we are up pretty early to catch the "backpacker" train to Aguas Calientes from where its only a short bus ride to Machu Picchu tomorrow. On the way we meet a nice Australian lady and American girl (who is a little ashamed to be American) and have a good chat about our travels, its great to reminisce. We are met by hoards of touts at Aguas Calientes and make a bee line for a place called something like Gringo Bills. As we are shown to the very top room we think our luck is in as its very plush (by our standards) but alas it costs 90 dorrar a night so we quickly change to something more in line with our budget. We spend a pretty lazy day around Aguas Calientes and cant even be bothered to visit the hot springs. Aguas Calientes, as one can imagine, is super touristy and with super touristy places come very bad English. The best one we saw on the way advertised "Horse bag riding" which surprisingly we didnt go for. The following day we are up before the crack of dawn (4.45am) to have breakfast and then catch the 5.30am bus to Machu Picchu. Yes we were bleary eyed but the views on the way up to Machu Picchu (MP) were fantastic with the cloud very low and almost mystifying. We arrive an MP and its just pushing 6am, we are one of the first to be admitted. Unfortunately its raining slightly but we still get some great photos of MP as it first appears and then disappears behind the clouds and mist. Eventually the inevitable happens and it really starts to chuck it down with rain so we seek cover. By now hundreds of people who have walked the Inca trail (4 days ish I think) have arrived and the disappointment on their faces is very funny. After about an hour or so the weather looks to be lifting so we go the whole hog and get a guided tour around the ruins. Its pretty fascinating what with all the alters and buildings and stuff but the highlight comes about half way round. As you can imagine having paid for a private guide its vitally important that we pay full attention to that guide. Hence Stu is somewhat taken by surprise when a nice Aussie couple ask to have a "few photos" taken of them. Well what would you do? Why say yes of course. What did Stu do...? You guessed it he said "no" and something like "I cant, I am a bit busy at the moment". Well talk about stuck up angry English tourist!! The look on the guys face was worth a million dollars and he didn't know whether to laugh or cry, in the end I think he burst out laughing saying something like "can you believe that!" Looking back on it now its very funny and perhaps if he hadn't have had a camera the size of Mount Everest he may have got a different response. You never know. We had a great day at MP all in all and went for a few walks to get away from the inevitable Japs on guided tours, all of which I have no doubt were wearing brand new shoes and the latest contraptions to keep the rain/sunshine off their heads. In the afternoon we headed back to Aguas Calientes to catch our train back to Cusco. We met some more nice Americans and shared our travel stories and on returning to Cusco went out for a great Parrilla meal. The restaurant was run by a group of Uruguayans, one of which had a great twitch in his left eye and was not too bad on the old bongos. Tomorrow we fly to Lima to meet some friends, Tom & Claire who are spending a few months in South America. We are looking forward to seeing some familiar faces. Time is running out now and the finishing date is fast approaching, however there is still lots to come and we are now looking forward to Equador. Lots of love and how about some messages then????? Stu & Amy.