Jul 2005

After getting roughly 3 hours of sleep, we were woken up by a rooster cockle doodle dooing in the frigid, damp sunrise. Our little amigo who let us sleep on his porch, who apparently doesn´t sleep, asked us if we wanted to get up to hike Machu Picchu. We just looked at each other and could not believe what had happened the night before. We were so EXHAUSTED from being scammed by our tour, homeless for a couple of hours in a new city, befriended by some Peruvian dudes and overwhelmed by the fact that we were actually in Machu Picchu, the place we have been dreaming about. It was unreal to be lying under those alpaca blankets knowing that we were unbelievably tired but had to rally hardcore because we were in one of the most amazing places on the planet. We could not extend our time bec. there were no hotels, no atms, we already bought our train ticket back to Cuzco and had booked our bus ticket to Puno. The only money we had was what we recovered from the envelope Rich stole back from the ¨buta¨ at the hotel. We got up, muscles aching, feet dragging and told our amigo to store our stuff because we were heading up to Machu Picchu!

Now despite what the guide books or tour companies tell you, Machu Picchu is incredibly expensive and complicated to get to. Thankfully we used our student cards and got a discount on our admission tickets (We technically shouldn´t get one bec we´re not under 25 but we worked it). We tried to get the discount for the bus up there but it wouldn´t work. So including everything the travel and admission we paid over 150 bucks!

Regardless of the cost, once you get up there you realize that it is worth it. Machu Picchu is one of the most beautiful, complicated and ingenious places ever designed by man. It is thousands of feet above sea level from the Urubabma River. It would have taken months just to get up there, let alone bring gigantic boulders to build the city. The Incans built it in complete harmony with nature. First of all it is in a mountainous tropical rainforest surrouned by llamas and alpacas grazing. It is so green and at that high altitude the sky is so blue. In the distance is the gorgeous snow-capped mountain called Salkantay.

Just being there is special, we quickly forgot about the fact that we might not have a place to stay for the night or that we were tired and on a strict budget. We felt energized and explored the Lost Incan City for 5 hours. The weather was perfect. We hiked all over, including the cliff-hanging hike to Wayna Picchu, which has a 360 view of the entire valley. What an amazing and rewarding experience.

On Monday we took a bus tour through the famous Sacred Valley. The valley meanders through the unbelievably high Andes mountains. Our bus flew around the tight turns and we gasped at the possibility of falling over the cliff edges. The valley is more lush than most of the surrounding valleys because the Urubamba river flows through it. The river actually goes all the way through Brazil to the Atlantic ocean. We stopped at the ruins of Pisac, built high on the top of a mountain. We hiked along the narrow stone path that the Incans built and there were times where we both thought we were going to fall. It was pretty scary but once we reached the ruins we could relax and take in the views.

Click here to learn about Pisac

We continued our trip to the city of Ollantaytamba. This is where the road ends and the only way to continue our trip was by train. In Ollantaytamba there is also an amazing ruin and a town filled with vendors selling coca leaves and porters carrying hundreds of pounds on their backs. We stayed in Ollantaytamba for a few hours until our train departed for Aguas Caliente (Machu Picchu). We hiked the ruins and learned bout how the Incans built elaborate sun and moon temples to help them grow their crops. We watched the sun set and the clouds pass under the tips of the surrounding mountain tops. Our guide Walter pointed out that we should gaze over toward the edge of a steep mountain terrace in the distance (hundreds of feet high) and look for the face of an Incan man carved out of the cliff. He mentioned that every June 21st, the sun shines right through the face and it lights up. The Incans celebrate Inti Raymi every June 21st (equinox), the festival of the sun. We sat there and took in the strange lush desert-like landscape and could totally understand why the Incans lived in this valley. After the sun went down, the temperature changed dramatically. The wind started kicking up and the busy city quieted down. We found a cafe overlooking the Urubamba river and warmed up to some delicious hot chocolate. (The hot chocolate is no joke here, they melt real coco, rice and canela (cinnamon). We then went to an adorable family-run restaurant playing excellent Peruvian music and ate brick oven pizza (very popular in Peru). After dinner we layered up and took the walk down the dark road to the Aguas Calientes train station.

At exactly 8 O'clock the guards opened the gates and everyone pushed their way onto the tracks to board the train. We have learned that in Peru you will be pushed by people who want to get in front of you ... all the time. We climbed into our train car and took our seats. We waited for the train to move. We waited some more. An hour went by. Then two hours. Everyone just wanted the train to move. After 3 hours of sitting in the train yard, we finally moved. Then we stopped. Then we we went back to the train yard. Then we moved forward again. Then the conductor hit the brakes hard. We went backwards again! Finally we moved toward our destination and we fell into a deep sleep.

When we woke up it was 1 in the morning and we were in Aguas Calientes, the gateway to Machu Picchu! We were tired but excited to be in such a special place. The tour guide who arranged our trip told us to expect someone from our hotel to pick us up at the train station. Nobody did. We walked into the town plaza and found our hotel. As we approached the hotel a tired looking lady asked us if we had a reservation. We handed her the envelope that our travel agent told us to give her. Her eyes lit up ... there was money inside the envelope. This is where things went sour. The lady quickly placed our envelope in her office and escorted us across the plaza to another hostal. This hostal was clearly not as nice as the one we were supposed to stay in. She walked us up to a room and told us that someone would be at our room in 10 minutes to give us instructions for the next days tour of Machu Picchu (nobody ever showd up). She left. We were alone in the room and upset that we were dropped off in such poor accomodations. The room was dirty and there were various stains on the walls ... and ceiling? Rich walked around bed and saw a fresh pile of POOP on the floor! It was huge and discusting and could not have come from a human. Outraged, we went back to the original hostal and pounded on the door. We woke up the lady and demanded that we stay in a better room. She said that there were no rooms in the hostal or the rest of the hostals in town for that matter. It was now 2 am and we were supposed to hike Machu Picchu early the next morning. We needed a place to sleep. After some arguing, Rich went into the office and grabbed the envelope full of money and we walked off into the night without a room to sleep in or a clue where we were.

We found a pizza place still open and asked them if they knew of a hostal with rooms. A young man with a long pony tail and an easy going smile offered to walk us around town to look. After an hour of waking up hostal managers, we finally found a hostal where we could speep outside on their balcony. We were just happy to have place to sleep so we agreed. We slept on two couches pushed together and when we woke up the next morning we could finally see where we were. We were in a lush, green valley with towering mountain peaks. Things were looking up.

More to come ...

In cusco we bought a tourist pass to visit the nearby Incan ruins. On Sunday we took a bus up into the mountains and were dropped off about 8 kilometers from Cuzco. We walked through 3 sets of ruins on our hike back to the city. The ruins were amazing and the views were breathtaking. The great thing about tourist attractions in Peru is that you can really walk anywhere you want and do not have to worry about guards keeping you back away from the site. We walked freely on the rock walls that the Incans built and spent as long as we wanted exploring. We have come to realize that Peru is a country full of rock walls, rock buildings and rock fences. It is mind boggling to think about how much work has gone into building all of these structures.

The most amazing ruin we visited is called sacsayhuaman.

Click here for history and photographs of sacsayhuaman

During our hike we were sometimes in the middle of beautiful eucalyptus forests with no other people around. At one point in our hike we came upon 4 llamas grazing under some trees. We watched them pick at the grassy ground and we got close enough to take some great pictures. We also helped an old lady get her baby pigs across the road safely. Rich waved his arms and pushed the little guys across just before a bus screamed by.

The end of our hike was a descent down into the city of Cuzco. Altogether we hiked about 10 miles that day and after a dinner of crepes we fell fast asleep.

The futbol game started and within the first 5 minutes, three players were badly injured. One of the players on the Lima team had to be taken away on a stretcher and police barricaded him so that he could get into the ambulance. While he was getting into the ambulance, the tv cameras were in his face, people were throwing stuff and screaming obscenities. We felt so bad for the guy, people try to avoid going to the hospital (especially the ones around here) so it must have been pretty bad for him to go. Throughout the rest of the game there were many more injuries. Roughly 6 players suffered bad headbutts while they tried to hit the ball with their heads. At least 5 players suffered kicks to the you know what.

With about 5 minutes to go in the first period Cuzco was given a corner kick. A corner kick is exciting because one player gets a free kick from a corner near the goal and all of his teammates line up near the goal with the hope of heading or kicking the ball in. This corner kick happened right in front of our seats. The ball floated toward the goal and all of the players jumped up for their chance to make contact. The ball bounced off of a Cuzco head and shot like a dart into the upper right corner of the goal. The goalie was left laying on the ground and the crowd jumped to their feet to cheer.

To witness a goal in a championship futbol game in South America is unlike any goal, touchdown or basket in a US game. People were not only cheering, they were outright exploding with happiness. At the far end of the stadium, the fans quickly cleared a section of the stands and then a loud explosion could be heard. They had set off what sounded like a quarter stick of dynamite. After the blast a puff of smoke started to rise and then the raging fans filed back into the opening to do a victory dance. Red smoke bombs filled the air and entire rolls of toilet paper were hurled onto the field. When it calmed down we saw riot police covered in toilet paper and confetti.

Halftime started rather abruptly. The players just ran off the field and all of the fans quickly ran for the food vendors and the bathrooms. We figured this would be a good time to get some snacks and water. Michelle decided to make the trip and leave Rich to guard the seats. Halftime at a futbol game is not like halftime at a Knicks game. For starters, there are rules of conduct at a Knicks game. You do not push or trample other people. You also do not use the ladies bathroom if you are a guy. Both of these rules are completely disregarded at a futbol game. Michelle was shoved around and pushed into a frenzy as she tried to make her way to the bathroom. It was as if there was absolutely no regard for personal space. Men and women were all pushing her. She tried to get some food but gave up. In the end she just wanted to safely return to her seat. When she reached the walkway back to our seats the was a row of people 4 deep standing between her and the stairway. They would not let her in. She finally pushed her way through and thankfully sat back down in her seat. We quickly made a group decision that we would be leaving the game early.

The second period was just as exciting and injury filled as the first. Men were left rolling on the field in agony, holding their shins and there were many close shots on goal. Lima scored a goal but had it taken back. Then Cuzco scored a goal and as the crowd raged and set off fireworks, we decided to sneak out of the stadium. We really wanted to avoid the fights, stampedes and confusion at the actual end of the game. Peru does not have a good track record at sporting events. In 1964, in a game in Lima, the worst sports disaster ever happened. 300 people were killed in a stampede.

We walked down a set of stairs toward a metal door being guarded by police. As the police tried to open the door, a crowd of children pushed their way in. We had to run backwords to avoid the rush of the crowd. The police could do nothing, there were just too many people. So we ran back up the steps with the crowd of people. Then we took a right turn and squeazed through some more people and then headed back down another set of stairs. At the next exit there were police on horses and the riot police were out as well. Nobody was getting in past them. We finally tasted freedom! When the dust had settled, we both looked at each other and were just thankful that we had experienced our first South American futbol game and SURVIVED!

Since our arrival in Cuzco last Friday, We heard the buzz around town that the largest and most anticipated soccer match in all of Peru was going to happen on Sunday afternoon. The two largest cities in Peru were going head to head: Cuzco and Lima. Peruvians are HUGE soccer fans and worship this sport as a religion. They are completely obsessed. The entire country shuts down when there is a soccer match on the tele.

Rich and I decided that we needed to be there to get the full South America experience, so we bought tickets the night before the match, right on the street from a very nice and earnest-looking scalper. He warned us to get there two-three hours ahead of time so that we could score the best seats. We followed his advice and were at the stadium at 11:00 am (the game started at 1:00). Little did we know, there were 45,000 other fans there all dressed in bright red Cuzco colors waiting in all types of lines, running, screaming and trying to get into the stadium any way possible. There was a guy giving away t-shirts and there were ten people swarming him, grabbing his cardboard box and trying to pull it away from him. The police had to rescue the guy and get the people to back off. That was a small introduction into the sheer chaos and melee that is Peruvian football.

When we got into the stadium, it was awesome! The field was enormous and everyone was buying meat on a stick (with a potato of course), people were cheering and the entire stadium was doing the wave. They had a humongous soccer jersey that the fans were sending around the stadium. The fans were setting off red smoke bombs, fireworks and throwing confetti everywhere. You´d think that they had just won a war, but the game didn´t even start yet! Our scalper was actually honest when he told us that we would have excellent seats. We doubted him because our ticket was a two for one so both of us got in for 25 soles (only 8 bucks). Super cheap! Our seats were very close to the goalie and next to some friendly people.

Before the game began, the crowd started to whistle (which we learned means very bad!) when the Lima teams´s fans took their seats next to our section.´ There was riot police all around the Lima fans, fully armed with attack dogs and machine guns. There were even riot police on the field. All of a sudden, the crowd got wild. The Lima teams fans were so high energy and to be honest, freakin nuts to be in the middle of this Cuzco crowd. They brought an entire marching band and did not stop jumping and screaming the entire game. The people around us started hollering at the top of their lungs (tu mama es tu papa), they were throwing anything they could find, and did not stop taunting them the entire game. Rich´s favorite part was when a Cuzco fan sitting next to us lobbed a large plastic bag full of Inca Kola down twenty rows and exploded it on the head of an annoyingly obnoxious Lima fan.

The game didn´t even begin yet....stay tuned for Part II