Those Incans were some impressive architects...

We departed our comfortable homey town of Ollantaytambo for the Las Vegas of Peru - Aguas Calinetes. Actually Vegas is too kind of a description…it’s more of the Reno of Peru. We took the Vista Dome train up to this small, horrible little tourist trap and were immediately assaulted by vendors upon stepping off the train – forcing alpaca made sweaters, socks and scarves upon us in bulk. The majority Aguas Calientes is similar a giant strip mall selling camera batteries and Inca embroidered wall hangings. The only pleasant find we had in this town was a fantastic restaurant, The Tree House; the equivalent to Canlis in Seattle or the Bistro in Thunder Bay (Total bill $131 soles - $42 USD).

The lone reason anyone visits this wretched little town is that it serves as the jumping off point for Machu Picchu; there is a better representation of foreigners here then at a General Assembly of the United Nations. If you walk through the town or sit at any of the many outdoor pizza joints it is a cacophony of foreign languages mixed with the sound of the rushing rivers that surround the area. The one thing you don’t hear…car horns. Aguas Calientes is only accessible by foot or train, the only vehicles in the town are the Machu Picchu buses (the garbage is collected by a man pushing a cart, he rings a bell to signify it’s garbage time and then the residents come running up with their refuse…it’s a fascinating system.)

We did wander into the ‘locals’ area of town where gringos such as ourselves were few and far between. Unlike the mud adobes that we saw in Ollantaytambo, the people here reside in cinder block homes built into the side of the mountains. The homes surround a local soccer field where, the older boys were playing a pick up game of soccer, the girls were watching and giggling and little kids rode sticks around the edge of the field in the Incan equivalent to Cowboys and Indians – nice to see some things are the same no matter where you are.

The elevation of the town places it in the cloud forest, so in addition to beautiful foliage there is a permanent sense of dampness. The room that we stayed in reminded me very much of a cellar, dank and with slugs on the wall. No worries, as we had to get up long before dawn to catch an early ride to the highlight of Peru…Machu Picchu! We planned to take the first bus up to the site in order to see the magnificent sunrise over the ancient ruins. It was a fantastic plan. How do I know it was a fantastic plan…500 other people had the same idea.

Moving hundreds of people, none of whom speak the same language 1500 feet up a mountain with a single lane road and no guardrails is no easy deed...it took a fleet of over 20 buses and many men with whistles. After 2 near head on collisions up the hill we made it, before sunrise!

I admit that I wasn’t super excited about going to Machu Picchu, in fact had I been travelling alone I would have skipped it. I thought it was going to be neat but seriously how different could it be from other ruins? I was wrong - nothing I can type will do this place justice; it certainly deserves to be one of the 7 wonders of the world. It’s not just the actual ruins, they are impressive but the setting makes it truly spectacular; perched on a mountain, nestled in the clouds. And of course the free roaming llamas are absurdly impressive to me.

My travel compadre and I decided to split up for the morning, he chose to scale one of the surrounding mountains and I elected to over photograph some llamas (I got a little spit on) and then fool around in a field of boulders, getting creative shots. That is until this creature emerged... I was precariously balanced on a rock waiting for some cooperation from the sun and the clouds to get the perfect shot when I heard a little tweaking noise behind me...I slowly turned and was face to face with a Vizcacha. (Imagine a New York Sewer rat and a Canadian Squirrel had a romantic night....plus one of them had a little bit of Kangaroo in them to start with) This is what came out of a crevice at me and why I fell backwards off the rock landing on what I am sure was a rare orchard bush. I laid there for a minute, hoping that no one had seen that…and then the shutter noises of a Japanese tour group snapped me back to reality. If you search hard enough - some where on the internet I am sure there is a photo of a chubby Canadian, flat on her back, squishing a rare plant with a hauntingly beautiful lost Incan city in the background – if you find it, don’t forward it to me.