November 17, 2010

Late in the evening yesterday the rain started to pour down in buckets. Once again we have been extremely lucky with the weather. We had a day of beautiful weather yesterday even though rain season has just started. The weather gods have really been with us on this trip. We´ve had more or less perfect weather everywhere so far.

In the morning it was still raining, but not much. We discussed back and forth if we were to go back up to Machu Pichu. The cloud layer was only about a hundred meters above us. Machu PIcchu waa probably completely covered in fog, but no one down in the valley seemed to know. We decided to go back up and test our chances. We don´t get many opportunities to visit the place.

I needed a morning shower and as one normally does in showers I covered my body with soap and then applied ample amounts of shampoo to my hair. Just as I started rinsing the lights went off. OK, power outage. No big deal.Then the water pressure started to drop. OK. Big deal. Instinctively I threw my head under the spray of water and just managed to get all the shampoo out before the last drops pressed themselves out. Ouch. They must have an electric pump to build water pressure. It was not an option to walk around Machu Pichu with my body varnished in soap. As always when I am in a desperate situation, and do not know what to do, I called for my wife.

She came up with the obvious solution and seconds later she was helping me shower in bottled water. It was very cold end even more decadent, but it did the trick. And I didn´t even use the whole 1 liter bottle. I have heard rumors that Michael Jackson bathed in Evian water, now I can brag about having showered in San Luis bottled water! No photos from this incident, sorry. 🙂

It was hot and raining, so we bought some rain ponchos before having our skeletons well shaken again during the bus ride up to the site.

The clouds had moved up and only a few stripes of fog were slowly drifting over Machu Picchu.  The rain soon stopped and the fog only added to the mystic atmosphere of the place.

As soon as we entered I got out my iPhone. I had purchased an app that would use the GPS signal and tell us about the things around us in Machu Picchu. I was stumped when the app told me I could not use it because I needed an internet connection. In Machu Picchu? What a rip-off!

On the guide we had yesterday´s recommendation (got that?) we did the hike along the Inca trail up to the sun gate. The quality of the trail is very impressive.

These guys did not construct with a horizon of 100 years.The Inca road system consisted of a total of about 40 000 kilometers (25 000 miles), or pretty exactly the circumference of the earth. The longest single road was about 6000 kilometers (3 700 miles) long, about the same length as the Great Wall of China. Incidentally, most of the Chinese wall was built at the same time as the Inca trail.

We met several lamas and alpacas on our way:

It was good to be hiking a bit again. Iseline complained loudly when we started, but quickly got into it and ended up being the first one to reach the sun gate.

We met a francophone Swiss couple on the way up and had a very nice chat with them. We also met quite a number of Norwegians. The view from the top was well worth the hike.

Iseline savored the view while listening to Michael Jackson on her iPod:

Machu Picchu is in the center of this photo:

We could also see the road the bus takes up from Aguas Calientes:

Afterwards we went down to Machu Picchu again and hiked along one of the other access routes until we arrived at an Inca bridge. I have to admit I had expected something more spectacular, like a swinging bridge. As I arrived my disappointment just popped out of me with a  “is *that* the thing” in French (“Cést ca, le truc?”). A young French guy just behind me, which I had no idea was Fremch until that point. immediately giggled and repeated my statement. A reminder that you need to be careful when you are in tourist locations. 🙂

Our time in Machu Picchu was coming to an end. We hiked back again and did one last walk through the ruins before we let our intestines be mixed together on the bus back.

We just had time to have lunch in town before taking the train. We opted for a place that looked very touristy, but which was close to the train station. When I found out that they had the festive meal of the Incas on the menu there was no doubt in my mind. It might very well be that this was my only chance, so I jumped for it. Diarrhea and stomach ache or not, I couldn´t let this one pass.

Yes, that´s a guinea pig, ladies and gentlemen! And I understand very well why it was a meal for great occasions. It was delicious. The crispy skin reminded a bit of bacon crisp. The meat was like nothing i have tasted before. Very tender, like in the most tender bird meat you can imagine, The taste was a bit gamey. The closest I can come is rabbit meat with a hint of goat meat. Naturally the amount of meat is limited on that type of animal. I tried to eat it with knife and fork but was quickly told by the waiter that it is eaten with your fingers.  It was indeed finger licking good!

Our table was one of the two outside tables and we became witnesses to a rather nasty incident.

A man who had passed his life´s noon came towards the restaurant with what was obviously his wife and a local representative of a travel agency trailing behind. I´m not sure, but judging from his accent when speaking English, I would guess that he was Swiss German. He had probably had a few too many beers in his life, as his diameter was well above average. He asked to speak to the boss and when she arrived he produced a bill. He had been to the restaurant the day before and claimed that the waiter had charged too much, The menu said that taxes were included and he had been charged taxes in addition to the menu prices. He demanded to speak to the waiter. After some back and forth the waiter was fetched. He was very young and kept looking down. The man almost attacked him as he arrived. Did you not tell me that taxes were already included? Did you? Did You? Did YOU? DID YOU? The aggresiveness was revolting. The poor waiter needed a translation before he understood. The man kept rambling on. “I catch you. You are a bandit.” To the owner: “You must get rid of him. Fire him!” At this point both his wife and the travel agent were starting to become very embarrassed. The waiter had a look at the bill and started to discuss with the owner. It turned out that he had indeed charged the guy too much. He had robbed the poor tourist of the enormous amount of 8 soles, or 2 US dollars and 85 cents. He went back into the restaurant, something which provoked our proud representative of western culture even further. “Why did he go back in? What is he doing now?” The waiter came back with coins in his hands and handed them over to the victim. The man looked like he had won the battle of Waterloo. He did not want to leave and continued to tell the boss that she had to fire the guy and that he was a bandit. His wife more or less had to drag him away. Would he have had the same reaction if in his home country he had noticed that he had been charged 2 dollars and 85 cents too much on his restaurant bill? Not a chance. Tourism has many effects on locals and their view of other cultures…

It was tempting to intervene while this was going on, but things happen fast and the threshold for doing so is quite high when you are with your kids. In hindsight I know what I should have done. i should have gotten up and given him his 8 soles and told him a few words of truth.

The train ride back, on normal economy class this time, gave us more great views:

There are many loose dogs in Peru. These came over to the train when we waited for a passing one, probably hoping in vain for some food:

We made our way back to Cusco. Tomorrow we are going to lake Titicaca.

Eirik

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