Day 7
Auguas Calientes
RAIN STORM

It was sunny when we woke up.....but then it always is sunny in the morning here. Noting the nice weather, Rich decided he wanted to climb Huaynapicchu, the mountain beyond the Machu Picchu Historical site. I had seen the trail, it is steep, narrow, and paralled by a sharp decent down the cliff. So, I knew Bryce could not do it. But, in the spirit of knowing that to enjoy the next several months we will have to sometimes split up so that each family member can do what "they" want to do, I agreed to stay lowland with Bryce.
Rich set off under the sunshine for the bus to the top of the mountain where you can access the climb. It was 9am. I expected him back in a couple hours. Around 10am the rain began. Bryce and I holed up at the hotel and waited. 11 turned into 12:00 and then into 1pm. I started to worry. The trek is steep and muddy and in the pouring rain, it is not unheard of to loose ones footing with nothing to keep you on the trail except your own two feet. I tried to entertain Bryce, but he began to worry too and decided to wait at the entrance of the hotel, his feet touching the doorway while he watched the bridge waiting for daddy. I ordered a glass of wine. Then another. Finally, five hours later at 2:00 I heard Bryce yell "Daddy!" and I ran to the door hoping Bryce was not mistaken. But, yes...it was Rich. Muddy, soaking wet and ready for a Cerveza. The buses had stopped arriving to take people down the mountain he explained, due to the bad rains. But, knowing his wife is a panicker....he teamed up with a friendly Australian and they walked down the mountain! Understand, this is a 30 minute bus ride down a sheer cliff. But, Rich walked, so we would not worry.
I have to share a fun phenonmenon that began to occur when we stepped off the bus to get on the train to Aguas Calientes: This was our first arrival into the highlands and immediately we experienced something we had been told we would, but had not realized how great.....Bryce is a superstar! As we first walked down the streets, he literally stopped traffic. Girls jumped from cars to touch his cheeks, pat his head and smile at him. Teenagers tried their English on him, little girls hugged him, and the older ladies dressed in their colorful outfits who normally shy from the prying cameras of the tourists, ran over to us with THEIR cameras and begged us to take THEIR picture with Bryce! "Get 3 solas" yelled the English tourists watching the spectacle. (this is the normal price locals will charge for a picture of them). The people here have never (or possibly very rarely) seen a "bambino blanco". A white baby. They think he is the cutest thing in the world. Unfortunately for them....Bryce won´t give them the time of day! Its so embarrassing. But, fun in a way. We are so enjoying seeing things we have never seen, its nice to have brought something THEY have never seen!
Now Bryce is hanging out with one of his fans from the reception desk and Rich and I are running around town to do errands. Actually....as it turns out, I am doing errands and he is getting a massage.
Oh well.....running around town means running up and down the hills and cobblestone streets of Aguas Calientes, the starting point for Machu Picchu and truely, in my opinion, one of the most overlooked parts of a visit to the 8th wonder of the world. Most tours and tourists come to climb and do not stay. Some stay the night. But, Aguas Calientes is a vacation in itself. The streets are lined with cafes and people selling wares. The food is excellent, the hotels clean and friendly and the coffee is heaven in a terra cotta cup.
Its been an interesting transition. In Lima, it was much like the US. Fast food and familiar fashion. In Cusco, it was as if while traveling up we had also traveled back 25 years. The TVs there play re-runs from the 80´s and therefore the people are dressed in acid wash jeans and flashdance style sweaters. Fastfood has fortunately not reached them, but all the restaurants boast pizza and even maccaroni and cheese.
Then as you decend father into the Andes, into the small towns of the highlands, the televisions disapear and the world goes back 200 years. Here the cafes serve llama, guinea pig, and rice vegetariano. The people dress as they always have. The men in pants and llama wool sweaters with wide brimmed hats, and the women in colorful ponchos and layers of flowing skirts. The children play soccor in the streets and the amplifiers blast music and politico from the belltowers of churches.
It is beautiful here. Each street is lined with granite cobblestones and follows mossy terra cotta rooftops. Water flows everywhere. The streets, the trees, the noisey river on which our hotel is found.
We love our hotel, The Machu Picchu Pueblo. It is designed just like the ruins with mazes of pathways each lined with flowing water and flowering plants. At night they light our way with candels and the lemongrass soap and hot, hot water are alwasy welcome at the end of a day.
BTW: Rich says my spelling and grammar are horrible in the blog. I hope you all understand this is a stream of personal thought...a diary. I told him you all would forgive me for not editing!
All Our Love.