What a crazy weekend.

Aaron and I had been planning on going to Cusco for sometime and what better time to go to one of Peru´s largest cities than the Peruvian independence day!

As it turned out the kids, extended family and friends were also planning to go to Cusco for the day to purchase a SINGLE cat. The family gave Maria del Carmen two kittens for her birthday a week or so before I got there. One of them died a couple of days ago (from stomach parasites?) and to give the other one (named Chika) some company, the family´s plan was to buy a kitten from the black market in Cusco.

The black market is something very popular in Cusco. It consists of many tarps and little shacks huddled together selling anything from stolen ipods to sides of beef.

Having worked with animals at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans, I was disgusted with the treatment of the animals in Cusco. Hundreds of kittens, puppies, and rabbits were stuffed into little cages which sat in the mud.

Anyway, the family spotted one kitten they thought would be a good match. So after thinking about the decision for about 20min they got it.

But that wasn´t it.....

They ended up purchasing two puppies and an additional kitten.
The family now has 5 cats and three dogs. There is an addition street dog that runs around the yard which is basically part of the family also.

The family then took us out to a typical Peruvian lunch and they were off.

Aaron and I found a great Hostel for 15 soles a night (about 5 bucks) that over looked the entire Place de Armes (main plaza). The pictures are great.

This trip to Cusco was really on to see what the night life of Cusco was like. Nick assured us that we would night have trouble finding a party.

We started out having a couple of pints on a balcony that overlooked the main square. The staff hung a banner with ballons while we were there and took out picture from across the street. So Aaron and I are offically in an advertisement to a Cusco balcony bar. The banner they were haning said ¨Drink as much as you can¨. We werenñt really sure what that meant because we sure didn´t get any kind have discount!

Later on we ended up at a place called Mythology which MOON guide book recomended. They had crazy salsa dancing experts until about midnight at which point the place turned into a night club.

Someone ended up teaching me how to salsa dance and I stayed at this place until about 430am. Aaron left an hour earlier or so I think...The place was packed and a great time.

We both woke up the next morning hurting. We got on a bus back to Urubamba and I took about a 5 hour nap.

The pictures from this weekend will be up either tonight or tomorrow.

I will also be putting up pictures from a couple of hours I spent at Yucay. We went to a festival celebrating local customs and Independence day--very nice liitle town.

thats it from now

So last night Aaron and I hosted a Quiz show at the Muse here in Urubamba.

Last week we played in a quiz game at the Muse and won it! This meant that we had to setup this weeks quiz game.

There were a ton of people last night and everyone love our questions. We had 8 categories ranging from famous qutoes, to Bushisms, to random Peruvian facts. At one point each team had to write a song (and sing it) about their experiences in Peru. Lots of beer and dancing was involved. Hopefully no pictures were taken! At some point I fell in a fountain, but I cant quite remember that...

AS YOU MUST KNOW, the Peruvian Independance day is this weekend on the 28th of July. Aaron and are planning on going to Cusco to join in the party. We have been told by many of the locals here in Urubamba that the only thing we need to bring out that night are our shoes, pants, and maybe a shirt.

We may or may not have pictures of this weekend!

ALSO, I have recieved mail at the address posted so the route is reliable!

Pictures from Pisac, Machu Picchu part 2, and Mount Putukusi are now up!

enjoy!

Just when I thought it couldn´t get any better....

So, Thursday night Aaron and I met up with Aaron´s good friend from the states and decided to be their guide to Machu Picchu (since Aaron and I are now experts on the Incan City!!).

There was some worry about getting tickets for the train to Machu Picchu since the strike was now over and the tourist season was definitely in full swing. We decided to all jump in a taxi and ride 20min to Ollantaytambo to try and purchase tickets for the Backpacker train the next morning (530am). The girls we were with already had tickets for the train.

We were in luck and were able to purchase a return tickets that left the next morning and returned Sunday morning giving us two full days in the Machu Picchu area (Aguas Calientes).

We took the same taxi back to Urubamba for about 3 soles each (he drove us to the front door of the train station and back!). The girls we would be traveling with were staying in a hostal in Cusco and had to take the taxi back to Cusco that night. We were all to meet up the next morning at about 430am in Urubamba and catch a taxi to Ollantaytambo for the train.

Everything went smoothly. We got to the train with plenty of time, espcially since PeruRail trains can never seem to depart on time.

The train ride was again SPECTACULAR. It was early morning and the sight of the sun breaking on the ice capped Andean mountains was something to behold. I tried my best to capture it with my camera, but the pictures just dont seem to do it justice!

Once we got into Aguas Callientes, I was extremely anxious to purchase tickets and get into Machu Picchu quickly so we could make it into the Wyanu Picchu section of the site. They only let in a maximum of 400 people a day.

We again bought only single trip tickets for the bus from Aguas Calientes to the entrance of MP. The hike down is a must!

We made it to the entrance of the park at about 845am and everyone but me seemed to think that there would be no problem getting into the Wyanu Picchu hike. They were wrong!

I ran to the entrance of Wyanu Picchu and the line was already 100meters long and they had already taken in about 200 people! As more people formed a line behind me, one of the MP workers was counting the line to make a breaking point at 400. Upon his first count I was about number 420 or so and would not be able to make it in!!!

THANK GOD, I decided to wait it out just in case there was a miss count....AND THERE WAS! It turned out that I was actually number 379 to enter! Aaron and the rest of the group couldn´t make it in.

The hike was amazing and well worth it. It was straight up and require the use of thick steel cord as railing.

I blazed the trail! I was going at a pretty quick pace. I met people who were number 340 and 310 as I passed the halfway mark.

In about 30-45min I was at the top. And I felt like I was on top of the world. The pictures do a better job of describing it as always!

I decided while I was up there to hike around the Wyanu Picchu mountain to the Moon Temple. This added about an hour and a half of strenuous trail to my journey, but was well worth it.

After hiking out of the Wyanu Picchu area and back into the main Machu Picchu site, I met up with Aaron and the group. The girls decided to take the bus back down, but I definitely wasn´t going to miss the wonderful hike down the side of the mountain--it was right as the sun was setting and the surrounding valley was lit up lit up like wild fire!

Eventually we all met up in Aguas Calientes that night and went out to eat at a really horrible, touristy place. Halfway through the meal we notice a large ammount of dead flies on the placemats.....

The next day the girls caught an early train back to Ollantaytambo. Aaron and I slept in and weren´t really sure what we were going to do for the whole day. Luckily we decided to hike up Putukusi.

The Putukusi trail consisted of about 400meters of steep ladder and climbed 1000meters in about 5km of trail (thats a guess, as no one has ever actually measured the distance).

Putukusi was the hardest trail I have ever hiked and probably the most rewarding. The view of Machu Picchu was incredible. It was an all encompasing view--from the sun door located to the east of the MP site (where the Inca trail enters the main park) to the outer edges of Wyanu Picchu. The feeling I had must have been something like what Hiram Bringham felt when he stumbled onto Machu Picchu.

After taking in the view and a short nap, Aaron and I made our way back down the mountain through the cloud forest and back into Aguas. That night we spent a lot of time at a local pub talking about the day. Eventually we decided to try out the hot springs (for which the town was named).

The springs were turned into a series of pools which varied according to temperature. In one of the pools several local kids were playing around with a plastic water bottle. I joined in. It was me versus three local kids in keep away---and I was loosing! Aaron eventually joined in and the tides turned!

We called it a night soon there after and caught the 830am train the next day.

Picutures from this adventure are coming soon!

I am going to talk to Nick more tonight about the train system!

I will also be uploading pictures of our adventure in Pisac. We went witht the family to see the celebration of the founding of the town. It was a tribute to the Virgin Mary and everyone was out dancing and parading around!

One little note¨...on the way there William had to drive since Aaron and I do not know how to drive a manual transmission (spoiled americans!). However, William did not have a license and we were pulled over at a checkpoint! Will phone Nick and put the cop on the line with Nick, after about 10min of negotiating we finally agreed on a price to have this little incident overlooked--100soles!

More to come.

So last night I had a long talk with Nick, his good friend Chris and Maria del Carmen about the new Train Service they are about to open up.

They asked me if I would like to help setup the accounting software here in the Urubamba valley and help design the program which will post the accounting information to the main system (ticketing and such) in London.

This morning out of the blue, the accountant here told me I was to come with her to Cusco to talk with the IT staff of a major hotel chain located in Cusco to see about using the same accounting software for the new train service.

The software is only for accounting in Peru. The Peruvian tax laws and such are so convoluted that an entire software suite was developed for any accounting that happens in Peru.

My first task as outlined by Nick and Chris was to evaluate the software for use in the train system. Basically, I am to talk with the developers of the program (located in Lima) and make sure that they can adequately train and support Spanish and English speaking staff in Cusco and Urubamba. I need to talk extensively with the IT staff of the hotel chain to get their opinions also.

The next step is to get a technical outline of the data structures used and such in the software and send that information to London.

This morning I talked with hotel staff and got phone numbers of people to call in Lima.

Aaron came along with and afterwards we walked around the ancient Incan capitol (Cusco). We did not spend nearly enough time there and will be traveling back soon.

We took a bus back which happened to go the long way back to Urubamba through small villages (almost running over cattle and goats). We got an awesome view of the snow capped Andes as the sun was setting behind them. It was quite amazing and we were glad the bus took that route.

One more thing......Chris hinted at the idea of me staying longer in Peru to get the train system off the ground.

Also, I talked to the boss of the hotel chain about the software and he wanted to hire me on the spot as a programmer.

Apparently computer nerds are in high demand in the third world! It would be very easy for me to get a job here.......

Absolutely incredible. Machu Picchu is overwhelming.

Our journey started with a most random rendezvous with my good friends Robert and Chris Dekay. Aaron and I just happened to be walking down one of the main streets in Urubamba (the one that all of the buses travel by) and all of a sudden I hear something which sounds like, "Hey gringos!". At first I just ignored it and went on walking down the street, but after turning around a second time I heard the voice, realized that it was Rob and Chris who happened to spot us from their bus and jump off! I knew they were coming in this direction at some point during the weekend, but I never expected them to stop here or to actually see them!

We all went to a great little bar/cafe called the Muse where most of the volunteers and other groups hangout at. After smoe great gringo food we all decided to head to Ollantaytambo that night, spend the night there and then purchase train tickets to Aguas Calientes. Aaron and I went back to pack up our stuff and to schedule makeup sessions with our students for next week.

We all met up at the makeshift bus station and hired a taxi to take us to Ollantaytambo. The strike was technically still in effect and there were loads of rocks in the street all the way from Urubamba to Ollantaytambo. It was about 7 or 8 at night and very dark outside, so we missed most of the scenery on the way up the valley.

Once we got into Ollantaytambo, Rob negotiated a nice little hostel for us and we spent the night. The next morning we all got up at about 530am to go and get train tickets to Aguas Calientes. There is only one way to get to Aguas and that is by train. Perurail owns all of the train services in the Urubamba valley and gets to charge whatever they want. So it was a bit expensive for a return ticket.

The 600am train was already sold out by the time we got there, so we purchased tickets for the 930 train. It of course was delayed for about an hour.

The train ride through the valley was unlike any other. The train followed the Urubamba river through some amazing valleys. The occasional ice capped range would make an appearance and I would jump up to take pictures through the window, hopefully they will come out alright!

Snaking through the Sacred valley to Aguas took about an hour and 15mins. When we reached Auguas, it was slightly disappointing to see how touristy the town had become. It was nice to look at, but very commercialized. None of the charm that Urubamba has!

Robert speaks fluent Spanish and negotiated a hostel for us all for about 3 dollars apeice (which is usual). We threw our bags down and made our way to the ticket office. There we all bought entrance tickets for Machu Picchu and rode a very nice bus up a very steep mountain to the entrance of the park.

I am not a good enough writer to describe what we saw, so I will let the pictures do the talking. I will be putting those up in a couple of hours.

Once we got to the park our first mission was to try and hike up the very steep Huyana Picchu which is a temple built on a large mountain that justs up next to the Machu Picchu. Unfortunately we were unable to do that because they only allow 400 people a day up the mountain, and we were number 415! Aaron and I will be going back with some of his friends next week at which time will make sure that we get to hike up it.

We did some other incredible hiking though around Machu Picchu. we saw the ancient Incan draw bridge, and the 'Sun Door'. Each hike was about 3 miles long one way.

We stayed from about 1230pm till closing time at about 500pm. We decided to hike down the mountain and back into Aguas Calientes instead of taking the bus. That was a great decision!

The hike down took about an hour and went through a cloud forest. All of the valleys and mountains at the same height of Machu Picchu were cloud forests. The moister generated by the clouding enabled plant life to grow on even the most steep of clifs. That is why Machu Picchu and the surrounding area look so green. In the US this is just not possible.

As we were walking into Aguas Calientes it was getting dark and dark clouds were rolling in. The scene was like something out of a movie. Walking down this narrow road right next to the raging Urubamba river was surreal! The tiny light which appeared as we rounded one curve in the valley denoted Aguas Callientes.

Once back in town, we found a place to eat. After dinner (which was amazingly good--all the food here is good) we stopped at 'Big Brother Bar' and had 4 for 1 drinks during their happy hour. A great end to a spectacular day.

The next day we got up at about 730 to catch the 800am train back to Ollantaytambo. This time we were on a train called the Vistadome because of the massive windows on the ceiling of the train cars. We made our war back through the sacred valley back to Ollantaytambo. The initial plan was to spend a couple of hours hiking around Ollantaytambo, but Rob and Chris had to make it back to Cusco at a certain time so we had breakfast (chicken spaghetti) at a little hovel next to the bus station. A large portion of spaghetti and a coffee only cost us 1 dollar!

After breakfast we boarded the bus to Urubamba. This time it was light outside and we got to see much more of the sacred valley from Ollan to Urubamba.

Once in Urubamba we said goodbye to Rob and Chris as they left for Cusco and walked back to Incaland.

What a weekend.

I can now say that I have seen three of the seven wonders of the world!

picutres will be up soon!


They are up NOW!!

Robert and Chris just got into Urubamba tonight! We met randomly on the main street.

Robert: "Hey gingos!"

Me: "...holy shit!"

Leaving for Ollantaytambo tonight.....heading up to Machu Picchu tomorrow morning.

This is why I cam to this country in the first place!


yeeeehaaaw

Pictures are finally up!

Check it out.

The Andean goose is my favorite animal of all time.

Protesters EVERYWHERE!!

Not only have most of the teachers in this country gone on protest, now all of the construction, transportation, and public workers have too!

Aron (thats how its really spelled) and I walked up the Urubamba main road and highway just to check things out. All of the shops and market places were closed. No traffic is on the streets!

We walked up a steep mountain pass to get a good view (and good pictures) and saw the masses of people from afar. On our way down the mass of people began to make their way up the highway towards us. They were picking up hhuge stones from the side to the roadway and placing them in the middle of the road to bloke traffic--and it was working very well! No one has been able to get in or out of any city in the Urubamba valley the whole day. Hopefully this lets up by tomorrow so i can make the trip with Robert and Chris...we will see.

I was going to post pictures today, but the internet cafe was closed, and I dont want to do it from Nick's computer.

Nick's old friend from Cambridge is here and is quite the character.

I will post more about my tutoring. I did a long 2 hour session with William this afternoon and everything went smoothly!

More to come!

Well I have finally been able to test my awesome tutoring skills on both kids as of this morning. Now that I have a feel for teaching highschoolers, I think everything is going to fall into place nicely.

So, Erin and I went out last night and found the two main gringo hangouts in Urubamba. An organization called ProPeru has just begun here in Urubamba, and about 20 to 30 gringos have come to live in the city. Last night Erin and I met about 8 of them. The people working for properu are about my age and older. All of whom either just graduated or have been out of college for a few years. They are extremely nice and I expect that Erin and I will be seeing a lot more of them. We had a great time last night talking and having a few drinks. The two bars that we went to serve some great food and are a great place to go to speak english!

I have taken some pictures of my surroundings and of some of the main streets, and as soon as I have some time I will post them.

I finally got an address to which mail can be sent! If you want to send me mail (you better!!) then I suggest sending a simple postcard or letter just to test the route. I have no idea how long it will take to get mail here.

I am going to post the address under the 'links' tabe located at the top right.

...till next time!

Oh yea, I almost forgot. Apparently all of the teachers in the Urubamba valley have gone on strike. There are thousands of them and they are really causing problems in Cusco. Erin was going to go to Machu Picchu on Wednesday to see the ruins with some friends, but their trip had to be cancled beacuse the teachers were (and still are) stading on the tracks of the train! I think that the reason these teachers went on strike to begin with is because the governmnet started to impose mandatory testing of the teachers every year. The yearly test took place recently for the first time and more than 70%of the teachers failed it! So now they want it abolished....not knowing the situation at all and being a pseudo teacher myself, this sounds a bit hypocritical....

Robert and Chris were planning on going up to Machu Picchu Saturday and I was planning on meeting them.....we may not be able to now.