Paucartambo and the Virgin Carmen

Here's some new pics of the past adventure to Paucartambo. It's a festival that celebrates the Virgin Carmen with so many colorful handmade costumes and distinctive dances. the first pic is of the church with its altar to Carmen. The other photos have the different groups, my favorite is the one where they are doing the malaria dance and death is taking them away.
I'll let the pictures speak for themselves and tell you all about them when I get back home soon.

I say Macchu! You say Picchu! Macchu!!

I went to Macchu Picchu this past weekend and had an amazing time. It was the Inca Jungle tour where you ride bikes the first day and hike the rest of the way to Macchu Picchu, about 30-35 km. The first day we rode our bikes down a mountain road descending 3000m (approx 10,000 feet). here's a short video:


and some more pics of day 1:


The road behind me is what we rode down, here's the whole crew, and the family house/hostel we stayed in that night had some friendly parrots. Watch out they are alcoholics...



Day 2: on part of the original Inca Trail, with face paint and all.


Here's a video crossing the Acocalmayo (Sacred River) by cable car.



The approach to Macchu Picchu as we walked through the valley that leads to Aguas Calientes.

After arriving in Aguas Calientes our guide brought us to a very spiritual mountain to climb that looks across the valley to Macchu Picchu called Putukussi. This mountain is sacred as it has the shape and form of a condor. Here's are some pics of the climb using ladders and a video of a panorama and I tried to show how high up we really were.
Pics in order: view of Putukussi from Macchu Picchu, the ladders we climbed, and a view of Macchu Picchu from the summit.



Edgar and Jean, our guides.


And of course day 4, Macchu Picchu: Seeing sunrise in a place like this is just amazing, especially after hiking for an hour in the dark. The sun rises through one of the mountain peaks and burns off the morning clouds.

And with the world becoming ever smaller it wouldn't be a day at one of the 7 wonders of the world without running into someone I went to high school and college with, especially someone who shares a Valentine b-day.

This is the view from Wayna Picchu, the mountain opposite of MP. The llamas roam freely and walk right past you on the terraces.


Everyone should see and feel something like this!

A day @ the Sascayhuaman (Sexy Woman) Ruins

These are pictures of our day out at the Sascayhuaman (pronounced Sexy Woman, no joke) ruins. this is where the Procession of the Incan Sun Festival, Inti Rahymi, takes place with a re-enactment of Incan rituals, which includes sacrificing a llama. Nowadays they just cover it up with a sheet to symbolize the sacrifice. The town of Cusco is delineated with the lines of the puma, part of the Incan trilogy of the serpent, the puma, and the condor. The chest/heart is the city center and the ruins we ventured to is the hair of the puma. These ruins are just outside of town and easily walkable.


With the size of group we had and the supplies we were bringing it was best to take the bus. On the way we jumped a couple of buses and waited for Ayde (our friendly local guide from the family house) and played some games with los chicitos as Ayde had forgotten her pack at the Mega supermarket.

Once up at the area of the ruins we built a clay over, covered the chicken, sausages and potatoes in foil and placed them in the middle where a fire had been built by the ladies (girrrrl power!) and smashed the oven onto itself. Not bad for a picnic. Leave it to the Scots to get the crazy idea to paint our faces with mud!





While the food was cooking some of us went up to Chritso Blanco, a statue of JC himself that is lit up at night and looks over the town.


Afterwards we went up to a natural rock slide and all about broke our asses sliding down this escarpment. Had fun doing and thats all that matters. Lastly we walked through some caves around the ruins.






And nothing beats ending a good day like this one than some refreshments at our favorite hangout Yanapay.