My ticket for Machu Picchu included a ticket to climb a lesser known, ableit in-plain-sight, land mark: Huaynapicchu. It's the mountain looming behind Machu Picchu in every postcard of the place that you've ever seen (I have a picture like I'm talking about on my post "See"). I was going to climb it to the peak, a la cima.

The path.

The steps—the climb—up to the top was made by the Incas. The steps are steep, but when they get really steep there's a rope (which was not made by the Incas). However, about two-thirds of the way up the trail takes a break from steps. Now the trail was just a steep, narrow trail of mountain. Here and there you'd get that rope, but more often than not you just relied on your balance and footing as you climbed ragged rocks up and up and up. You look over the edge, which is inches from you, and see just how high you are and just how easy it would be to make a mistake and fall off the mountain.

At this point it struck me: if something were to happen, there's no one to fall back on. There aren't park rangers or security guards on the mountain. If you were step wrong and shatter your ankle, there's no way you're getting down the mountain without using that same ankle. If you have a heart attack, there's no one to call for a helicopter—and if there were it would be impossible for the helicopter to pick you up from the mountain side. If you trip and fall, you could actually plummet from the side of the mountain.

Huaynapicchu.

We were all tourists climbing this mountain, but we were each entirely alone, entirely responsible for ourselves, entirely independent. It was not entirely familiar for me. My dependence was wrenched from me because Huaynapicchu rendered it impossible to hold onto. It was empowering. More so than at any other time in my life, I felt a powerful sense of being alone; alone in the sense of being a lone one: a lone person, independent of all others. Not a sense of irresponsibility of my effect on others, but a sense of total responsibility for my effect on myself.

At the top of Huaynapicchu I looked around and saw everyone else who had hiked to the peak as well, all on our own, each one of us. I've never felt or been quite as accountable for my actions as at that moment. Going back down the mountain the feeling stayed with me. The deep, clear breathes of independence at the peak of Huaynapicchu were very unfamiliar but very welcome.

On Sunday Brandon and I caught a tour of the Sacred Valley of the Incas. It included a few different ruins and a great lunch. After leaving the last site at Ollantaytambo, the (amazing) water temple, we were just about on the bus when Brandon noticed something.

Coke is very common here in Peru in plastic bottles and glass Cokes are abundant as well. But for whatever reason cans of anything are very rare. I've only seen 2 or 3 little shops that carry cans of Coke, and you've got to take advantage of those opportunities. They are few and far between.

It's also common for pop to be in refrigerator displays--like you'd see at the grocery store--but it's very uncommon for those displays to be turned on and keeping the pop cold. Why? I can't figure out why you'd buy the display and not turn it on, but maybe they come free or something.

But on this occasion what Brandon noticed was a fridge display of cold cans of Coke. The stars had aligned. I jumped on this opportunity without any hesitation because a can of Coke is far superior to a bottle of it. There's just something worlds better about it (although fountain Coke is, in my opinion, the best).

Feeding the baby llama.

I forgot to write anything about Awanakancha. It's a little, pretty touristy, "village" outside of city called Pisac. This was one of the first places that I visited, it was during my first or second week in Peru. Every week Projects Abroad organizes a social for all the volunteers in Peru, and going to Awanakancha was one of those socials.

Mom and baby alpacas.

So, there are a few things that Awanakancha is all about:

• Llamas, 
• Alpacas, 
• A few undomesticated cousins of the llama/alpaca family, 
• Potatos and corn, and 
• Weaving and weaved goods.

Beyond being about those aforementioned items, the place is also all about letting you feed, pet, and ride the llamas and alpacas! (I'm lying about the riding part) It was a lot of fun. I had no idea that these animals were so docile and friendly—I didn't think they were vicious of course, but it turns out they really want to be your friend... especially if you have the grass they like.

The potato and weaving parts of Awanakancha almost come as an afterthought. However, they were still pretty interesting to learn about. I'll have a separate post about potatoes tomorrow so for now I'll talk about weaving for a second and then leave you in peace.

The picture to the left is an example of how various peruvian natives weave using a special type of loom. I don't know much about that process other than it takes a long time and they use a llama bone during the process. The coloring process is pretty interesting. First they have to spin the alpaca fur/wool into string/yarn. Then, using various bugs, herbs, or other organic means, they give the string/yarn its different colors through boiling it with dyes. Red dye, for example, is made by crushing a certain insect.

It was interesting to learn about the weaving and potatoes of Peru, but the best part by far was hanging out with llamas and alpacas.

Temple of the 3 Windows.

It's easy to look at Machu Picchu and think Wow, I can't believe how intelligent and organized you'd have to be to have created such an incredible place. Machu Picchu leaves you with this sense of awe because you see what human beings are capable of achieving. It's really an incredible place—it's insanely great.

The people behind the place are even more incredible, even insanely greater.

The Incans created an empire throughout what is now Peru through the traditional means of conquering but also through showing people a much superior way to live. This lifestyle that they believed in and lived was based on three tentpole guidelines:

1. Don't Lie.
2. Don't Steal.
3. Don't be Lazy.

(The Temple of the 3 Windows served as a reminder of these three tentpole guidelines. You can find a Temple of 3 Windows at most Incan ruins for this reason.)

They boiled down, sifted through, and condensed the secret of life to just three guidelines. And it really worked for them. If you think about it, those three guidelines can well guide you through the day. The Incans and their empire were a testament to these beliefs; plus, they extrapolated on them.

The Incans had taxes, like all societies, but their taxes were a little different; your tax was a month of work per year for the empire: "Don't be Lazy." And the work was tough, but not what you think. There was constant music and plenty of food—not the slavery most societies have subscribed to. In fact when the Spanish came, they wrote of Incan work by noting that it was organized, joyful, voluntary, and that the workers sang as they works. Through this tax of work they were able to build incredible places such as Machu Picchu and Sacsayhuaman as well as build a free new home for every newlywed couple.

As I learned all of these things during our Machu Picchu tour, I was more and more impressed by the Incans. They really had things worked out. It's a little paradoxical that the Spanish were similarly impressed as they wrote again and again about how great and organized a society the Incans had, but then the Spanish turned around and killed and conquered that great society. It's a shame. These people were great.

This is really what Machu Picchu looks like. I took that picture. That's crazy, and it's crazier to be there. The place is so much bigger than you expect—pictures don't really do it justice. It's also supposed to be an energy vortex, a place where a considerable amount of positive energy emanates from the earth. I can believe that. It was a very peaceful, take-a-deep-breath kind of place.

Anyway, our guide led us into Machu Picchu and showed us a good view, a better view, and a best view of the ruins (the above picture is from the best view). We were happy that our guide rushed us pretty quickly past good and better, because by the time we got to the best view most of the other tourists—it was kind of sad to be a tourist again—were stuck at the previous two spots.

Actual Machu Picchu.

Along the walk to the best view Cosme, our guide (who has written books about Machu Picchu), told us about some of the interesting history of the ruins. Probably the most interesting tidbit is that we know very little history. When it was found in 1911 the natives who showed it to Hiram Bingham had only come across it 7 years earlier, in 1904—and they were only that far up in the mountains because they were avoiding taxes. They didn't know what it was, when it was made, or what the city was for. In fact we don't even know it's real name; Machu Picchu is actually the mountain in the picture to the left. Everything we know about Machu Picchu has come from archeology and good guesses.

What we've got so far is that the city was a place where the elite lived as well as couples who were planning to get married. For the couples, the city was a testing ground. In Incan culture you had to live together for one year before you could get married—Machu Picchu was one such place that you'd live together because obviously a potential-married couple isn't going to go out and find their own plot of land just to test their relationship. After the year, if you made it, you would actually be given a plot of land and other Incans would come and build you a house on it. As for the elite, they were what you'd think: political and religious leaders as well as very skilled people.

We also know that the city would have been brightly colored in red and yellow because archeologists have found evidence of paint near the walls and buildings of the city. It would have been an even crazier-awesome place at its height, which coincidentally was only 500 years ago. Because Machu Picchu is only 500 years old!

When I first saw Machu Picchu—the actual city that all the pictures are talking about—this was the song that was running through my head.

After hiking up to Machu Picchu.

After walking through what seemed plenty like a real-life Disney World, we arrived at a bridge which looked like something out of Jurassic Park. No dinosaurs though, only men asking to see your ticket and passport. This is when I'd usually realize that I forgot my ticket, except on this occasion I had checked maybe 20 times to make sure I had that ticket over the past 2 days. I pulled out the ticket, the passport, and then walked across the bridge.

By this time it was about 5:15 or so and there was very little light. Everything looked blue and black. Thank goodness I had my headlamp—and I'm serious about that; it's a really good headlamp and I really needed it.

We began our ascent. And it was, to my knowledge at the time, quite an ascent. There's a reason that the actual road up to Machu Picchu is home to so many switch-backs—it's a steep climb up. We had steps on our climb, but not the steps you're used to. It's stone steps, ragged stone steps, all the way up. The altitude isn't quite as bad at Machu Picchu, but it still gets to you a bit. And I'm not going to pretend like I didn't get winded.

So after about 25 minutes of climbing I was wishing we were at the top, and about this time the sun was coming up as well. I got through it and at about 35 minutes in the sun was really making its way into the picture. No rays yet, but I didn't need my headlamp anymore.

I took this picture at about 35 minutes in as well. I tried a few tricks but without a tripod I couldn't really capture how sweet the coming sunrise was. Everything was purple and blue as the sun started climbing behind those mountains and it was pretty awe-inspiring to be at the same level as the tops of other mountains.

Just 15 more minutes and we arrived up at the top of our climb by about 6:05 am. The hike up is supposed to take an hour and a half. We did it in an hour. Boom.

After catching our breath and admiring the view we'd achieved through our own labors we waited just a few minutes until our guide, Cosme, arrived. He took us to the line (the back of the line) that leads to the actual gates into Machu Picchu.

Way out of focus. Way early.

After arriving in Aguas Calientes and getting to the hotel we didn't waste much time before having a little supper and then going to bed. The next morning was super early. The alarm went off at 3:55 and was snoozed, then was again snoozed at 4:00 but at 4:05 am we got up to eat breakfast of yogurt, bread, granola, and granola bars. It was early, but the food was pretty filling. Plus you can't be that lethargic when you're about to see Machu Picchu.

By about 4:40 we met with Dom and Lauren in the lobby (pictured above) and from there we walked towards the foot of the mountain. After walking over a train track then a bridge things started to get Disney World-y.

Off to my left was a running river just below a mountain. Everything smelled and looked and sounded (in the dim light of 5:00 am) like Disney World. Animal Kingdom maybe. I then realized that the difference between Disney and where I was was that there the sounds and sights were real. Really real. For a second I thought about how great Disney is to have made places that seem so authentic, then I got back to reality where I was enjoying the base of Machu Picchu in real life. If Disney World is magical, well so was walking to the bottom gates of Machu Picchu.

PeruRail to Aguas Calientes.

Arriving at Machu Picchu was it's own adventure. First you have to take a bus from Cusco to a city called Ollantaytambo, which is about an hour and a half. Next you have to take a train to Aguas Calientes, which is the city right at the foot of Machu Picchu. You can actually only get there by walking or by train--there are no roads that lead to Aguas Calientes. The train only takes about 2 hours from Ollantaytambo.

Our trip was pretty interesting. First the bus to take us to Ollantaytambo was late by more than an hour, which was further complicated by the parade that blocked the road. There's always a saint being carried somewhere.

Some saint parade.

It was a big deal that the bus was late. Our train was going to leave Ollantaytambo at 7:00 pm and we were still a city away from that destination at 6:35. I asked another passenger how long to Ollantaytambo and they said (in Spanish) "Close to 25 minutes." Great... That really rose my blood pressure and added to how anxious I already was. If we would have missed that train we would have had to buy a whole new ticket--and who knows if there were even any more trains that night.

But we made it. We stepped on the train with about 10 minutes to spare before the train left the station. Pretty lucky.

The train was an interesting time as well. People just breast feed wherever they want down here, and of course one such mother and her crying baby sat right across from Brandon and I. To our left was a girl whose laugh had a knack for driving you crazy and her friend who was making her laugh the whole trip. But, the train had coffee and that really helped the situation a lot.

At the end of this trip, we arrived in the gloriously warm and humid Aguas Calientes at about 9:00 pm. There was a man from our hotel holding a sign reading "MAX" and he led us to our hotel. We stayed at a place called Margarita's House, and I'd recommend it. It was a little taste of home. The beds were so comfortable and the toilet had a toilet seat.

Toilet seats are pretty rare down here for some reason.

Didn't I tell you I'd be taking a picture like this. I couldn't believe that this is the real view you get when you visit Machu Picchu. It was incredible. I'll be putting together a video of everything I saw because the scope of that place is just enormous. Pictures don't do it justice at all.

Machu Picchu, in case you didn't know.

Tomorrow I'll be taking a picture almost exactly like that one at Machu Picchu. I'm all packed and ready to leave Cusco at about 4:00pm today. After a bus then a train I'll arrive in Aguas Calientes (the city at the foot of Machu Picchu) by about 9:30pm. Then its time to meet with our guide and then catch some sleep. Morning will come real soon because we're climbing up to Machu Picchu—on the road in the picture below—at 5:00 in the morning on Saturday and then spending the day there with some Projects Abroad friends and a great guide (or so we've heard).

Road up to Machu Picchu.

This last weekend Brandon and I went to Lake Titicaca and took a 2 day tour around three islands: Uros, Amantani, and Taquile. The total tour only cost S/. 75, which comes to about $30. It included all transportation, 3 meals, and lodging. Sick deals, sick deals.

As I tell about the trip, I hope you’ve seen LOST.

We took a bus from Cusco to Puno late Friday night. The bus didn’t crash on the island, but the way our driver careened about it was like crashing for 8 hours straight. Eventually we arrived at about 6:30 in the morning, just as the sun was coming up. A very sales-womanly lady pushed a tour on us (the one I’ve previously mentioned) and it sounded like a good deal so we took it.

After getting picked up from the bus terminal another bus took us to our boat--NOT PENNY’S BOAT. There were about 15 other people on the same tour. Immediately upon sitting down a wandering pan-flutist forced his music on us, and promptly insisted we pay him. In the US we have street performers and sometimes you toss a dollar in their hat if you appreciate what they’ve got going on. Here in Peru they practice a more proactive version. They corner you, then treat you like an ATM. I only had change so that’s all I gave the guy. Also he pan-fluted some Simon and Garfunkle.

And we’re off! The first stop was the floating islands of Uros. They float and you can move the island whenever you need to. You don’t even have to turn the wheel; just lift the anchors.

These islands are made of reeds and roots. There's a particular type of dense, cork-like root that forms the base of the islands. You lash these roots together then you start putting reeds on top. The island we stopped on was 4 feet thick: 1 ½ feet of roots, 3 ½ feet of reeds. The island was 8 years old. Each island can last about 30 to 40 years before it starts sinking into the lake.

The Uros people live in huts like the one in the picture and rarely step foot on solid ground… they know it's best not to leave the island. They survive mostly by fishing and tourism. You're welcome Uros people. They were also very genuine and weren't trying to sell you something every other second.

Me and a hut.

The Island... of Amantani.

Departing from Uros, we set out to find the island Charles Widmore style. It was a 3 hour boat ride to get to Amantani. There were awesome people in our tour, and most of the 3 hours was spent talking to them. An uncle and nephew from Idaho, 2 Australians, 2 French couples, a German, and a girl from the US who's working for an NGO in Lima. Topics of conversation ranged from "Money Ball" to the process of learning languages. It was a good boat ride.

The boat docked at the island… of Amantani at about 1:30 pm. From there we were all given a host family for the night. A French couple (might as well have been Rousseau of LOST and Inspector Clouseau from the Pink Panther), Brandon, and I got a family that seemed to live on the top of the island. Lake Titicaca sits at 12,000 feet above sea level. That's about 2 miles closer to the moon than any part of North Dakota. At the family's house in the clouds we were served fantastic soup, potatoes, cheese, and tea. The soup was a potatoey-vegetabley-spice deal that was very filling. Then came potatoes (of a variety that is only grown on this island), cheese, bread, and coca tea. So good.

Our host house.

During lunch, my friend the Tourism General (Benjamin Linus) of Amantani paid a visit. He smiled too much and was super fishy. He told us, in Spanish, that "Your tour guide doesn't want to pay the full 30 soles per person for the host family and rather he's only paying 25." He went on to imply that if the guide only paid the 25, he would need us to pay 30 so the family would get their money for hosting us. That math didn't add up. 30-25=5, so if that story were true, we'd only need to pay an extra 5 soles, not 30. We never had to pay the 30 extra soles so it seems the tourism dude was just trying to squeeze more money out of us. Either way it's not a lot of money, but we had been assured by the tour company that everything was paid for. It's really tiring when it seems everyone is trying to scam you.

After lunch we met back up with the tour group and started a trek up to Pachatata at about 4:30, which is a temple to father earth. It's at the top of the island. Lake Titicaca is the second highest plateau in the world and the Pachatata temple is the highest point on the lake at 13,350 feet. It's hard to explain how tiring it is to walk up-and-up-and-up at that elevation. You're hardly doing any work at all, but you're out of breath the whole time.

The long walk up the mountain.

The walk is incredibly exhausting and it just seemed to keep going and going and going. It was the Energizer Bunny of walks up island mountains.

View of the mountainside.

We arrived at the top just before 6:00. Right as the sun was setting. We didn't get to go in the temple but that was alright. Someone must have captured the smoke monster in there.

Sunset from Pachatata.

Supper was similar to lunch and just as great. We had a tea similar to coca, but mintier. It's called muña. Similar to coca it helps to treat headaches and stomach aches. Afterward we spent a long time checking out the stars and talking to Rousseau and Clouseau. They were very impressed by all the stars, because they can't see them through the light pollution in France. Even though we're in the deep deep south, you can still see the big dipper. The little dipper, however, is just below the horizon.

Host house's kitchen in the morning.

Still on Amantani breakfast was pancakes, YEEHAW, and bread and coffee. Afterward we boarded the boat and headed off towards another island: Tequile (might as well be Hydra island though). All of these islands (minus Uros) are mountains as well as islands. At Tequile we hiked up the mountain and across the island--just like John Locke--for a good hour before we got to the main plaza. On the way we saw people farming and just being normal island people. We also passed the Flame Dharma station.

The Flame Dharma station.

Once we got to the plaza we looked around a bit and then went to a house where we got an explanation of the different weaving that the island is known for. I guess they're famous for their fine weaving, as fine as that tapestry Jacob's always weaving. Afterward we had lunch of trout, great soup, rice, bread, french fries, and tea. I'm getting to be a big tea fan.

After about a million steps down the other side of the island we boarded the boat and headed back to Puno. Thus ended the great trip to Lake Titicaca.

Woman making chiriuchu.

First let's talk about "chiriuchu." It's the main food at the festival that I'm about to talk about. It is chicken, tortillas, rice, other stuff, and whole guinea pigs! Guinea pigs. If you look at the above picture you can see the guinea pigs off to the left. They still have their teeth.

No festival is complete without tons of live music.

The Corpus Christi festival was two Thursdays ago. I don't know what it's a festival of, I just keep hearing that "it's very Catholic."  Anyway it consists of TONS of people, throngs of them, carrying huge statues of saints around the Plaze de Armas. The place was packed. And some of these saint statues were threatening to crush the 20-30 people who were hoisting them around. No procession would be complete with out music and flags, and Corpus Christi is in no short supply of either.

A bunch of people at the Corpus Christi Festival.

During the festivities, one saint caught my eye. This saint rode a horse, how chivalrous. This saint was also crushing an Incan. You have to ask "why?" And I did. What happened was the Incans had the Spanish surrounded, so many 100s of years ago, in the very plaza that the saint statues were being carried around in now. The Incans had a sure victory on their hands until… this saint--Saint Sebastian I think--came storming in on a horse from somewhere and started just destroying Incans: crushing, stomping, slashing. Now this was a saint! And the Spanish ended up winnning this battle and Saint Sebastian was ever remembered as an Incan crusher. Can you imagine! Let's see that pass as politically correct in the US, shall we.

The saint, crushing an Incan.