At this point i must say i cant remember much about the third day. Oh wait, right, it rained more, and at night there was a parte with all the groups who were on the trail where two incredibly tall and incredibly stinky brits put on a show that would've landed them at an asylum had they performed in the midst of civilization. Speaking of civilization, on the third day most of us were more than happy to part with 5 soles for a hot shower. a hot loooong shower. mmmmmmmmm.... droool. Then our cooks showed us all the food that some of the other fancier groups were getting throughout their trip, by whipping up this amazingly enormous feast, and forcing us to leave uneaten tons upon tons of good food. Also on the third day I was bitten by some tiny insect. I remember brushing it off my eyebrow when it stung me. Several hours later my eye was the size of a small apple, hanging over and mostly obstructing my vision. I had tried hiding it under my sunglasses for the rest of the day and opted for looking like one of those people who think it's cool to wear sunglasses at night and inside. Not like i could even spend much time inside, since i was completely unable to move my feet in any semblance of a rhythm. In fact, mostly my feet behaved like stubborn donkeys that have to be convinced into moving by the sheer force of will. In addition in the middle of the night i realized that the cold and wet of the second day of the trail had not gone by without leaving its vicious mark on me, since i was trying to breathe and failing miserably, plus sneezing and coughing to such an extent, i was surprised to learn that the person i was sharing the tent with was able to sleep at all.
The next day we were woken up super early, at like 4am. No tea. Nada. Just annoyed yells: "matra, amigo, matra!"--apparently they were collecting the sleeping pads. I am generally slow in the morning. I am also generally cranky in the morning. I am generally better not approached in the morning and all i have to say is that i probably would've been beaten up if those guys heard what i was replying to them under my breath or in languages i hoped they wouldnt understand. Plus I lost my glasses and was extra pissed at having to deal with scared children asking mommies if i was a gringa bruja or something like that. When i got to breakfast, someone was literally standing over me, waiting for me to finish my coffee from like the moment they poured it. Apparently it's because the porters wanted to catch the 6am train back to cusco. Which i can understand, but come ON!!! no need to act like complete assholes! urghgh...
And then we walked for a couple hours to machu pichu and couldnt see anything because everything was covered in clouds, and all the vistas were pretty much nonexistent. In fact, when we got to the site itself we werent even sure that was it because so much of it was under the white milky mess. It also started raining. At some point it cleared up a bit, but only as a tease, so most of us decided to go down to the entrance and leave our packs there and then come back for the guided version and hope that the weather clears up by then. The weather did clear up, but when the guide started talking i realized i was really hungry. And taking after some people i know, i couldnt think of anything else much. Hungry hungry. Equinoxes were very important to the Incas. Hungry. Very very hungry incas. Incas had an agricultural zone. There was nothing edible there now. Arrrrgh.
When you finally get to Machu Pichu, there's an actual Machu Pichu mountain that you can climb. First I was too hungry to climb. After i ate i was too tired. It was supposed to be only about 45 slow minutes up. And i didnt. I guess I'll just live with that. For a couple days after I got back from the trail different parts of my legs would scream at going up or down the smallest number of steps, so i really will get over not climbing the last part. Plus everything was covered in clouds anyway, so you couldnt get a good view. Sour grapes anyone?
When you go down a million steps from Machu Pichu to the town of Aguas Calientes below, and after your ears pop about twenty times, trying to equilibrate to the changes in pressure, you arrive to a town that looks to be one street centered around a railroad track. It's actually a couple of streets and it does branch out away from the railroad a bit, if only to include the hot srpings which give the town its name. I'd never been to hot springs before, so i didnt quite know what to expect. In any case, i figured it couldnt be too clean and was happy to find that i could rent a towel there (they also rented bathing suits, which just doesnt seem particularly hygienic at all...). Anyway, I was pretty tired and sore from the four days' worth ofwalking and was pretty happy to jump into what looked like a regular swimming pool size-pool of greenish water that promised to be oh-so-nice-and-warm...
Well, the water was warm, but not as warm as i wanted. Which I thought was likely compensated by the fact that you could order all sorts of drinks directly from the pool and have them brought to you and then pay later. I opted not to go for this option, since i figured i might just fall asleep right there if i have alcohol. After a little bit, it became apparent even to my super-stuffed nose that some sort of a funk hung about the pool. I tried to relate it to sulfur, but unfortunately the only thing I could identify in the smell was... well.... a public urinal. The guys from my group that had used the changing rooms said that the changing rooms smelled exactly like that but even more intense. Ewwwwwww. Then of course my super slow brain turns on, or more like turns around and realizes there are at least 40 kids at the other end of the pool. I hope it was only the kids. At this point everyone was pretty much as grossed out as could be, and almost ran back to the hostel for showers.
I had planned on partying it up, to celebrate the machu pichu and the end of the trek and all that but instead i ended up feeling really ill and crashed around 7pm. And the next morning on the backpacker express (that's the actual name of the train, no lie!!) a couple of italian kids (maybe 2 and 5) got plopped down across from me, and i am convinced that they are the reason that i have not only superbruised shins, since i actually felt them kicking me over and over, but also some sort of a conjuctivitis. kids! why couldnt they sit across from their MOM or DAD!!!
The next day we were woken up super early, at like 4am. No tea. Nada. Just annoyed yells: "matra, amigo, matra!"--apparently they were collecting the sleeping pads. I am generally slow in the morning. I am also generally cranky in the morning. I am generally better not approached in the morning and all i have to say is that i probably would've been beaten up if those guys heard what i was replying to them under my breath or in languages i hoped they wouldnt understand. Plus I lost my glasses and was extra pissed at having to deal with scared children asking mommies if i was a gringa bruja or something like that. When i got to breakfast, someone was literally standing over me, waiting for me to finish my coffee from like the moment they poured it. Apparently it's because the porters wanted to catch the 6am train back to cusco. Which i can understand, but come ON!!! no need to act like complete assholes! urghgh...
And then we walked for a couple hours to machu pichu and couldnt see anything because everything was covered in clouds, and all the vistas were pretty much nonexistent. In fact, when we got to the site itself we werent even sure that was it because so much of it was under the white milky mess. It also started raining. At some point it cleared up a bit, but only as a tease, so most of us decided to go down to the entrance and leave our packs there and then come back for the guided version and hope that the weather clears up by then. The weather did clear up, but when the guide started talking i realized i was really hungry. And taking after some people i know, i couldnt think of anything else much. Hungry hungry. Equinoxes were very important to the Incas. Hungry. Very very hungry incas. Incas had an agricultural zone. There was nothing edible there now. Arrrrgh.
When you finally get to Machu Pichu, there's an actual Machu Pichu mountain that you can climb. First I was too hungry to climb. After i ate i was too tired. It was supposed to be only about 45 slow minutes up. And i didnt. I guess I'll just live with that. For a couple days after I got back from the trail different parts of my legs would scream at going up or down the smallest number of steps, so i really will get over not climbing the last part. Plus everything was covered in clouds anyway, so you couldnt get a good view. Sour grapes anyone?
When you go down a million steps from Machu Pichu to the town of Aguas Calientes below, and after your ears pop about twenty times, trying to equilibrate to the changes in pressure, you arrive to a town that looks to be one street centered around a railroad track. It's actually a couple of streets and it does branch out away from the railroad a bit, if only to include the hot srpings which give the town its name. I'd never been to hot springs before, so i didnt quite know what to expect. In any case, i figured it couldnt be too clean and was happy to find that i could rent a towel there (they also rented bathing suits, which just doesnt seem particularly hygienic at all...). Anyway, I was pretty tired and sore from the four days' worth ofwalking and was pretty happy to jump into what looked like a regular swimming pool size-pool of greenish water that promised to be oh-so-nice-and-warm...
Well, the water was warm, but not as warm as i wanted. Which I thought was likely compensated by the fact that you could order all sorts of drinks directly from the pool and have them brought to you and then pay later. I opted not to go for this option, since i figured i might just fall asleep right there if i have alcohol. After a little bit, it became apparent even to my super-stuffed nose that some sort of a funk hung about the pool. I tried to relate it to sulfur, but unfortunately the only thing I could identify in the smell was... well.... a public urinal. The guys from my group that had used the changing rooms said that the changing rooms smelled exactly like that but even more intense. Ewwwwwww. Then of course my super slow brain turns on, or more like turns around and realizes there are at least 40 kids at the other end of the pool. I hope it was only the kids. At this point everyone was pretty much as grossed out as could be, and almost ran back to the hostel for showers.
I had planned on partying it up, to celebrate the machu pichu and the end of the trek and all that but instead i ended up feeling really ill and crashed around 7pm. And the next morning on the backpacker express (that's the actual name of the train, no lie!!) a couple of italian kids (maybe 2 and 5) got plopped down across from me, and i am convinced that they are the reason that i have not only superbruised shins, since i actually felt them kicking me over and over, but also some sort of a conjuctivitis. kids! why couldnt they sit across from their MOM or DAD!!!
posted by Irene @ 8:00 PM
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