Cuuuuzco!

Okay seriously, this place is AMAZING! I know some of you have gotten recaps from me in brief, but let me just try to break it down...Brad adn i arrived Monday afternoon to a gorgeous, sunny 70 degree sky. that was first surprise. 2nd being that our cab driver nearly skidded down this 80 degree hill that our hostel is on (Loki Backpackers HOstel)...and yes, we have to climb the enormous hill every time we walk back up...which basically makes you completely sober, even if you've only had one glass of wine - as they say, you can be a cheap drunk here bc of the altitude! haha. Thankfully brad and i are on the same wavelength...just enjoying a few here and there, unlike most other people in our hostel, who seem to be here only to party, but more power to em! All are very friendly...

so we explored Cuzco the first night, went in a few of the GORGEOUS churches in the main squares, adn ended up stumbling upon this great restaurant, Los Perros, that Lynn Gladstone recommended. Amen for that cuz Brad ordered the best hamburger we'd both ever had. And it was a wine bar, so we enjoyed some Argentinian and CHilean reds...plus I pounded him in Scrabble. We played for like 2.5 hours...and okay, i won by 4 points. We streched the rules a bit, allowing an occasional Spanish word, and although no 's' was allowed at the end to make a new word, we did allow an 'ed'. hehe.

Tuesday we decided on the ruins of Cuzco - you take a cab to the farthest one adn then walk back thru all 4, then back to cuzco. i think about 4 some miles in total. But seems as though Brad and i were only 2 of a few doing this! Thx for recommending Matt, cuz we sure didn't want to be stuck on a tour bus...not that exciting. Good warm up walk though, and we made friends w/ the local indigenous people an d their alpaca who just walk down the street with them. Very kind faces, helpful, and hard working. Monday night we cleaned up, ate at this swanky place called Fallen Angel (i was a bit leery going there ;) Great steak, great wine, and very very interesting decoration. We ended up sitting on a bed w vinyl heart pillows. our table was a bathtub with clear glass over it - and the bathtub was an aquarium. Flying pigs over head...you can only imagine. Anywya, pics will be posted next week.

Yesterday was by far the best so far. We woke up early, enjoyed another $1 breakfast at our hostel, coca tea, and then headed down to the SAS office to take the Sacred VAlley tour. Ended up being only 6 of us since some dopes didn't show up in time. So our guide, Martin Martinez, was a gem. He had led INca Trail tours for 10 yrs, and probbaly been doing SAcred Valley just as long. Was very insightful, was an Inca, and so nice. We toured 4 towns/4 amazing ruins - Pisaq (which wsa a great warm up hike w lots of stairs and steep upclimbs), Urubamba where we stopped for lunch at a great buffet spot, Oyotomtombo (or something like that), which was incredible incan village still in existaance, and Chinchero, which had colonial church. By that time the other 4 had taken a train to machu picchu, so brad and i enjoyed our private tour with Martin in Chinchero, which wsa his hometown! To my sadness, he explained how when the Jesuit priests came to town, if the natives didn't say they were Catholic or go to church, terrible things would happen to them :( To this day they attend Mass in order to get their kids into school, but none really believe...they worship instead PachaMama (mother earth), amongst other gods. Anyway, they were kind enuf to drop brad and i off at our hostel, saving us a trip up the hill! Last night we ventured into town to try alpaca (small llama) burgers, recommended by friends on our tour. They are called The Big Pack (vs the Big Mac, ah!). Totally tasty, almost likea very tender, bit gamier beef. So yes, there was our crazy meal. We passed on the cuy, or guinea pig - guy next to us at the restaurant ordered it, and it came full with head and little feet too. siiiiick. brad tried it and said it was pretty decent, like tender chicken or duck. I said NO NO NO thank u. hit the irish bar, then came back to the hostel to chill w friends we met in airport, but we were exhausted and hit the hey again pretty early.

Today is our day off before we start the big hike tomorrow, called the Inca Trail. Everyone we've talked to said it's amazing, but seriously tough hike...oh dear. We'll get thru it though!! Mom, be prepared for some really good smells when we meet u at the hotel ;) oh, i've basically bought the world here - alpaca gloves, hats, leg warmers (yes, they're sooo cool), earrings, neckalces, etc. So cheap. Haven't gotten a sweater, but they're pretty cool too. Bought a few other trinkets that are very cool and not touristy too.

well, i will next be sharing with you all after the big hike, so wish me (and my legs) luck, and say prayers for protection and good weather! oh, it rained a bit yesterday morning, but thent urned out to be a gorgeous sunny day again. Hoping no rain for the hike...

Mwah ;*
K