The End is Near

I only have a week & a half left.... :(. As per usual, I've done quite a bit since I last updated – I’ll admit I’ve been slacking. Allie & Jessie "Mas Alto" left last week but not before we could go horseback riding up to the Pumamarca ruins. I always forget how much I STILL love horses. I think I might ask for one again this Christmas...The only problem is that I'm fairly allergic to them and unfortunately got asthma on the four hour ride. However, it was beautiful and really fun.

We went to Machu Picchu last Friday. Peru couldn't make it a much less enjoyable experience to get there. From here, you have to buy a train ticket but this includes the 30 minute bus ride to the train station. The train used to run from here but the railway got washed out with the floods (I believe they are restoring it). I had to buy a separate train ticket from Julia & Jessie “mas abajo” through Inka Rail which cost me a whopping $50 (that’s equivalent to s/ 140 which is a lot of money here). I arrived in Aguas Calientes only to find out that they had no returning tickets home for the following evening and the train is the only mode of transportation in and out of town. {Side note: Aguas Calientes is known as a tourist trap and a relatively unpleasant place to be.} We stayed in an overpriced hostel the first evening but were able to wake up very early the next morning to climb Wayna Picchu. Wayna Picchu is the tall mountain pictured in the standard photo of the ruins and has more ruins at the very top.

We woke up at 3:45 am to be able to buy tickets into Machu Picchu, the bus ride and to arrive at the gate of Machu Picchu within the first 400 people in order to climb Wayna Picchu. When we arrived at Machu Picchu, a heavy fog had settled upon the mountain and gave it a very mystical and majestic appearance. We were able to start climbing Wayna Picchu by 7:30 am and arrived at the top by 8:15 am. I climbed to the very top and waited for Julia and Jessie (Jessie broke her ankle about 3 months ago). While I was waiting, I climbed to the highest point, put my backpack down and turned around to find it plummeting down the side of the mountain…oops. I had to yell to the path below to watch out – thank god it didn’t come close to hitting anyone but it continued to fall below that path as well. I climbed down and peered around with a couple other people to see if we could see it. No such luck. For a few moments, I thought I lost anything relatively important (money, my driver’s license, credit cards, iPod, Peruvian cell phone). I found a guide at the top of Wayna Picchu, explained what happened and he was able to retrieve it! It had fallen an additional 20-30 feet below the path and was wedged in a tree. To my surprise, nothing was broken except for my deodorant and a case for some medicine. We spent the rest of the morning at Machu Picchu but were anxious to get to the train station to get train tickets for the following morning since it was the first day of the 4 day dance festival in Ollantaytambo.

Train Ticket to Machu Picchu: s/ 140
Bus ticket to Machu Picchu: s/ 40
Entrance into Machu Picchu: s/ 126
Food and Accommodations in Aguas Calientes: s/ 300
Watching your backpack plummet to its impending doom: PRICELESS

Saturday through Tuesday was the biggest four day festival in Ollantaytambo called Choquekillka. Senor de Choquekillka was some sort of Peruvian Saint that looks identical to Jesus Christ and did something miraculous here in Ollantaytambo. It involved 16 groups of traditional dancers, music, dangerous fireworks, food, and lots and lots and lots of cerveza. The biggest of the four days were Sunday and Tuesday. Sunday, we started drinking early in the afternoon through the evening. We watched the dancers for quite awhile…many of which whip each other in the legs really hard. After, we went to the bull fighting near my house, a cargo for one of the dance groups, and more dancing in the plaza. I was pretty drunk by the evening and as we were sitting down to eat dinner at the cargo someone set down a plate of hot peppers. In my drunken state, I thought they were bell peppers and shoved one in my mouth. A few seconds later, my entire family witnessed the Niagara Falls pouring out of my eyes. Jesus and Janet were running around demanding water, sugar, salt and anything that would help me. Ugh, stupid. Also, I was so drunk that I was in bed by 9:30 – lame. I also found out the next day that I refused to eat the meat that they served for dinner.

Monday I didn’t do much drinking but went back to the cargo for dinner and a few drinks after. Jesus was talking to his very belligerent uncle about joining their dance group – Qhapaq Qolla (they whip each other as well). Jesus mentioned that I wanted to return next year to see him dance and his uncle decided to give me one lashing in my leg. Thank you – I have a bruise.

Tuesday was another heavy day. Once again, we started drinking early in the day and headed out to lunch at the cargo. Jesus received his whippings in preparation for next year AND we were lucky enough to have cuy (guinea pig) for lunch. I tasted a very small bite and the taste was almost as foul as the appearance. After, we went to “La Pampa” for some entertainment, horses, fireworks and….cerveza. {Side note: there are absolutely no regulations on fireworks here. They were shooting off from this wooden toothpick tower straight into the crowd.} We ended up being out until about 3:30 or 4 in the morning which was really rough for me since I had to wake up at 7 am. The entire festival has been one of my favorite experiences here in Peru. And no, it wasn’t because I was served endless amounts of cerveza.

I’ve uploaded some pictures and plan to get more of Choquekillka up. Hope everyone is well in the States and is prepared for my highly anticipated arrival in about a week and a half!
Much Love, Liz