Today after tutoring Tany (the correct spelling--I was yelled at!) we took the bus into Cusco to check the prices of plane tickets to Lima (for my departing flight) and to get bus tickets to Puno (the main city on lake Titicaca).

It was a long day of walking all over Cusco. The brand new major bus station is located close to the airport and was a long walk from the Urubamba bus station. We stopped at several travel agents on the way to see what they had to offer in the way of bus tickets to Puno. The cheapest ones they offered were 60 soles.

I figured that this was a ripoff and decided to walk all the way to the actual bus station which was located far from the city center and inquire there about tickets.

The first booth we ran into offered us seats for 15 soles. We took them.

So now the plan is to go to Cusco firday and see some of the ruins; spend the night; and catch the bus at 800am the next morning for Puno. We are thinking about coming back that monday--giving us 2 nights at Lake Titicaca.

That's it for now!

Our plans changed slightly for this past sunday the morning of. Nick was very instant that Aaron and I not miss the festivities that were taking place at Moray.

A celebration from what I could tell was called Pachamama took place in the old Incan ruins at Moray. Nick said that Pachamama was a Simon and Garfunkel invention. I wasn't really sure what he meant by that, all I know is that he couldn't remember the actualy nave of the festival. All of the fliers called it Pachamama.

So Aaron and I woke up early again and caught a taxi to the ruins. This was a mistake on our part as we could have gotten their for a lot cheaper if we had taken the bus or setup of collective taxi ride.

Moray was once believed to be an Incan research center. It is a depression in the earth which the Incans terraced and tested certain crops at certain altitudes.

This was a very serious celebration. There were lots of people in attendance most of whom were locals. The celebration took place at the base of the ruin and involved what looked to be at least 200 people (give or take 50). The first part of the celebration consisted of 5 groups of kids dressed in red, green, orange, and yellow costumes. Each kid carried an Incan flag (rainbow which closely resembles the gay pride flag). The kids paraded down the steep ruins and each color occupied a ring around the base (the pictures will do a better job of explaining).

There was a group of drummers and people playing wooden flutes for the whole thing. Once the kids were all setup, people with offerings of food made their way down and eventually Patchatuec himself (Incan hero) made his way down. The whole thing took at least 2 hours to get setup and then another 1 and a half to finish! Needless to say, we didn't stay the whole time.

On our way back we decided to walk the entire way! We started out by climbing a small hill to survey the area and pick the general direction that would take us to Urubamba.

From that small hill only about a quarter km from the Moray ruins, we could somewhat make out the highway which lead down from the high plains and into the sacred valley--into Urubamba.

So we started to walk towards it! There is no such thing as trespassing in Peru. You can walk were ever you like and people will only wave at you.

Of course the path to the highway was not what we envisioned. We made our way across the high plains with extraordinary views of the peaks of the Sacred Valley the entire way to a impassable gorge. We decided to take a left and walked around the gorge. I ran into some locals who pointed us in the right direction to a trail that lead down into another valley.

We made out way along that trail into another incredible little valley that descended directly into the Urubamba river. After wading through some irrigation canals and jogging across several hay fields we eventually found another trail which seemed to be used by horsemen.

We took this trail all the way to the Urubamba river. We ended up about 2km west of Urubamba itself and actually came down from the high plains right next to Salinas (salt flats which have been used for over 350 years).

We crossed a shabbyy wooden bridge across the Urubamba to reach the main highway. We hiked down the highway all the way back to Incaland.

This was an amazing trek which from our best guess ended up being about 10-11km. We free lanced the whole thing (with a little local help!) and had a great time!

I think Nick was happy that we had finally taken his advice and gone for a random walk in the valley. He is a big fan of this type of thing and thinks that Peru is the best place in the world to do it.

I hope the pictures do our trek justice!

This pas weekend was very busy.

We planned on going to Ollantaytambo on Saturday and then to the Pisac ruins and market on Sunday.

Saturday we got up reasonably early and caught a combi to Ollantaytambo at about 1030am. The ride was uneventful and very crowded. Of course everytime you get into a combi the ride is cramped. The combi is no bigger than a VW bus and they stick on average about 25 people and usually one of two dogs. I think I have a picture of the ride up to Ollan.

Once there we made our way through the main square and to the site of the ruins. Ollan is the same town at which we catch the train to Machu Picchu. So technically I have been to Ollantaytambo 6 separate times! This also means that it offers great views of the valley that leads to Machu Picchu.

The combi costs one sol (about 35cents) from Urubamba. The more I think about it the more I think that Urubamba is the best place to be in the Sacred Valley. It is no more that an hours drive to any of the ruins in the valley, and makes getting to Machu Picchu extremely easy. Its location has allowed Aaron and I to see MP a total of three times without (It is still expensive) draining our funds completely.

Anyway, once we made it to the entrance of the ruins we noticed that the entrance and price of the tourist ticket (allows access to all of the ruins in the sacred valley for 10 days) was half for students. I of course had left my student ID in my room.

The drive is only about 25min in a combi (10 in a taxi) so while Aaron milled around in all of the tourist shops I caught a combi back to get my ID. The drunkard that sat next to me who kept asking what my name was (in spanish) made the time fly!

Once I got back we both purchased the tourist tickets and entered the ruins. These were some of the best preserved ruins in the Sacred Valley. This site was the only place where the Incan forces were able to repel the Spanish conquistadors. I believe it was during the Incan rebellion lead by Mano Inca during which Ollan was turned into a fort and withstood a Spanish onslaught.

After spending about two hours there we headed back to Urubamba. The pictures are great and will be up shortly.

It has been a while since my last post. I have been quite busy.

Wednesday last week I had a great oportunity to make a difference in a small rural school here in the Sacred Valley. Will has been volunteering at a small school in the town of Urquillos (about 10min east of Urubamba off of the main highway to Pisac) to fulfill a school requirment.

This small was smaller than any village I had ever been to in Louisiana. The school house was no bigger than two average sized bungalows put together. The town itself probably had a population of about 500. As I arrived that day, they were just getting what seemed to be their first paved road.

That morning, Nick randomly mentioned to me that Will's school was in need of tech support. I wasn't really sure what to make of it, but I was told that I should drive the family's RAV4 to this school to lend my computer skills. Amazingly enough this school had just received 4 (yes that's right!) relatively new LG computers! They were having running power cables and making sure the new network was working correctly.

I spent about an hour or so getting everything setup.

As I was working the kids seemed to wonder out of class and huddle around me as I worked. Seeing their faces light up as the computers booted is something I will never forget. These kids have probably never seen a computer before in their life, and now they have the chance to explore the world of computing.

I put some of the more animated screen savers that windows XP has to offer on and just watched the kids as they stared in awe.

It was really gratifying to know that a remote village in the Sacred Valley is becoming tech savvy!

I took some pictures with my cell phone--I might be able to get them on the site.

I could definitely see myself doing this sort of this full time. Hell, they will definitely need someone out here when those computers eventually run into problems!

I might be back out at the school later to help with other things. The kids were very amused at seeing a gringo walking around!

I have created a link on the right panel to a hilarious article that Nick wrote about Urubamba and Peru in general. Funny stuff!

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.......