To Cuzco, Bankruptcy, and Some Quite Big Ruins...

We splashed out on a superdeluxeluxuryclass Cruz Del Sur coach for the 20 hours to Cuzco and i sat on the floor on the bottom deck because i couldn't stand the constant, ceaseless, hairpin swerving, threw up most of the way nonetheless, and got someone else's shit on my feet.

Cuzco is very nice, superbly picturesque, but definitely not worth the utter MISERY of that ride. Nor the altitude sickness, which appears to have rather unfairly affected the non-smoker. I am thouroughly thrilled to be ascending another thousand metres or so tonight, on another overnight fairground ride that is already making me feel gross.


Cuzco.With kid that ran in front of us.

Assuming that i should include some information about what we have actually come here to do: Machu Picchu is a letdown. If you want to pay a fortune to stand around in the cold and see some ruins that you could see the equivalent of in both scale and grandeur elsewhere for next to free (and in nice warm weather), then that is something that is entirely dependent on how willing you are to fritter away money, and how able you are to see through the brightly coloured Inka Kola t-shirts that are obscuring your view. Although, there was this bonkers group of new-age-crisis-aged American women that were quite amusing. They stood around in circles, eyes shut and holding hands, serenely swaying in people's way. Summoning their money's worth no doubt.
And here are the pictures i am supposed to put up:




Looking absol


It was a bit of a chore getting to the site. We pretty much just plainly couldn't afford the tourist train tickets (there is no road to Aguas Calientes, the nearest town) and Peru Rail don't allow tourists on the local train. Partially though, we wanted an adventure. This involved visiting some ruins in the Sacred Valley, getting a shared car to Santa Maria, a combi to Santa Teresa, a combi to a hydro plant, a walk along the train tracks in the dark, and more or less the same on the return leg. Unfortunately, our 2007 guidebook is not always as up to date as it could be, and the route is now a much plied gringo trail, which will cost you triple what you think it will.

I think the highlight of the excursion was probably our visit to Pisac:

Pisac market.
Pisac ruins...





Ollantaytambo.
Other less cultured Sophie and James activities include:
Smashing rocks.
Lying down.
Being James.

In conclusion, an update on our disaster-dodging so far: On Saturday, the town we are going to tonight was hit by a meteor which has left a hundred foot crater and mysteriously caused all the locals to become ill.