Why am I awake at 5 am ? Still not feeling good, but slightly better. Drank more “Electrolight” and slept a little bit more before the phone woke me up again at 6:30. I had already prepared a small tote bag for what I would need up on the mountain and went down for breakfast. Do I eat? Haven’t eaten anything in 36 hours; I therefore must try to eat something. They had a mixture of Peruvian cereals so I had a very small portion of that with a little bit of yogurt. I stayed with hot tea instead of coffee and had a piece of bread and a teeny tiny banana. Little bites. So far so good. I have to be up the mountain at the Machu Pichu entrance by 7:45-7:50. The bus up the mountain takes 20 minutes, so I have plenty of time to go back up to my room, use the facilities one more time and start walking down the street. I’ve made it down about 1/3 of the way when I realize I’ve left my walking sticks in the hotel room. I definitely need those, especially in my condition, so back I go, huffing and puffing back up the hill to the hotel for my sticks. And yes, I’ve taken my asthma puffer but it’s not helping! Back down the hill, following the directions I’ve been given to go all the way down Avenida Pachacuteq until I reach the Main Square. For some reason my instincts are telling me that I should veer to the left to get to the river side and walk down from there, but I resist and follow the directions I’ve been given. Bad idea. I reach the square, spot a security guard and ask him where I go from there to catch the bus to Machu Pichu. He sends me back the way I’ve come and tells me to turn left, then right. For those of you who know me, this is another sign of how sick I was. Where was my map of the town? I ALWAYS get a map. ALWAYS. I hadn’t obtained one yet ! Anyway his directions were completely off the wall and I had to ask someone else and finally made it down to the right place about 5 minutes later. I told the lady I already had my bus ticket, so I did not have to wait in line for that. I headed for the first bus in the line and checked my watch; if I could get on this bus and it took off now, I would just make the 7:50 meeting time.
“Sorry, this bus is full, but you will be the first person on the next one”. Great. Except that the next bus has to completely fill up before it can take off. I was feeling too sick to worry about it. I just sat on the bus, closed my eyes and waited for it to fill up. And off we went, zig-zagging up the mountain for 20 minutes. STEEP mountain. These are tall steep mountains. If you’ve seen any pictures of the area around Machu Pichu you know what I mean.
Oh, by the way, did I mention it was raining? It was raining when I first woke up at 5 am, it was still raining at 6:30 and still raining as we made our way up the mountain at 7:30. Apart for a few minutes during the tour of Machu Pichu, it rained all day !
It was nice that I had been here before with Yvette, and our Canadian group because I knew that the guides lead their individual parties into the site from the main ticket gate and once they reach the point where you get your first glimpse of Machu Pichu City, they stop and give you a long explanation. I might still have a chance to catch up with my group. I knew two things from the Agency Rep’s visit the night before: our group's flag colour was brown/maron and our guide’s name was (wait for it) Victor Hugo, but you have to pronounce it in Spanish “veektor oogo”. I'm amazed I still have a sense of humour at this point in the day. So once I got passed the ticket office, I followed a group with a sky blue flag up to that first overlook. Very steep 10 minute climb. Good thing I went back for my walking sticks. {Yvette: This time we came in at the top entrance, which was our exit point 2 ½ years ago. Remember the view?)
So I reached this spectacular vista point, which is the view you see in most advertisements for Machu Pichu, and I sat down on a bolder to catch my breath and just took in the sight. After a few minutes I started looking around and as I looked up ..... “I spy, with my little eye, a brown flag” ! There was my guide, two levels higher than I was, up on a ledge talking to the group, and I managed to reach them before they moved on. I decided to go with the part of the group that had the English speaking guide because I just couldn’t cope with Spanish today. She was very good with her broken English and I never learned her name since I had missed the first introductions. But again I was able to confirm that you cannot accept everything they say as the truth; it's just the version they learned in their shpeal. So I did the 2 hour tour with this group going in the counter direction from my first visit, and seeing a few new things, but not returning to others.
The ancient security doors into the walled city.
The temple
Building on top of boulders and one of the staircases
Terraces outside the walls and graineries in the background
The side where the regular people resided
View from within an Inca trapazoid window opening
Some of our group coming down the main staircase outside the city walls, beside the terraces where they grew their food.They now limit the number of people who come on the site each day, and they have markers indicating the route people should follow. Everyone should be flowing in the same direction instead of having groups meeting and crossing in narrow paths and stairways. Now when I say stairways, don’t picture nice even staircases. These are Inca built stairways with uneven stones, some higher than 18 inches, and to top it off they are slippery in the rain. I love my telescopic walking sticks; could not have done it without them today. We are almost done with the tour, and although I’ve worn my waterproof poncho, I don’t think it’s working very well because I am wet through two layers of sweaters and my jeans.
I had hoped to spend the day here on the site, just soaking it all in but, pardon the pun, that’s not the type of soaking-in I had hoped for! When the tour ended, just beside the “condor” rock formations, I decided to head back to the ticket office to use the facilities. I could try having a bite to eat, and if the sun came out, would return into the site in the afternoon. Your ticket allows you to do this, but only on the same day. So I walked along one of the terraces, to the graineries and back up to the ticket office. Restaurant would not be open for another half hour, so I headed for the baños.
One look in the mirror and I knew there was no way I should be staying here one minute longer. I needed to get to the bus, go back down the mountain, trudge up to my hotel, take a nice hot shower and get into bed. And that is exactly what I did; at 1:15 I was in bed.
At 3 pm, the sun did peak out, but by 4 the rain was back and never let up. After drinking a lot of Electrolight and water I’m feeling a little better. By 6 pm I'm actually thinking that what I need is some nice plain rice and veggies, so I got dressed and hoped I would find something nearby.
- The restaurant beside my hotel is Mexican: definitely not tonight.
- The second one is in a nice hotel but “Sorry, no meals in the evening”. She recommended a very good restaurant and gave me a very small map (FINALLY, a map !) showing me how to get there… at the very bottom of the hill: NOT !
- Third restaurant was Peruvian: I don't think so.
- Fourth restaurant was vegetarian ! ? ! You are kidding me ! Just what the doctor ordered. I had a nice bowl of rice, with a mixture of diced vegetables (carrots, peas, snow peas, and I forget what else) and seasoned tofu, with a very mild sauce on the side. On the menu it was called Paëlla. Now if I was really expecting Paëlla I would have been disappointed, but this dish was like manna from heaven. I could only eat half, but it stayed down and that’s all that mattered. Thank God, or Buddha (the restaurant was decorated in Hindu style), or whoever placed this restaurant in my path tonight.
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