Peru Part Three

David and Brad spark our next adventure. Deep in thought, the others have slipped ahead of me when I come back to the present. Giving me the opportunity to gun the XR, it’s a while before I find the gang at a small guinea pig farm beside the road. As a local delicacy in these parts, we are given a tour by the most gracious of hosts. With his wife laboring over an open fire in the dirt-floored kitchen, he shows us his guinea pigs, vegetable garden, and fruit trees. Radiating a peace from his simple life in the unspoiled countryside, it’s with a sense of sadness we ride for Cusco.

Dropping out of the mountains into the vast cradle that holds the ancient city we give thanks to Flavio. With the sun already behind the high mountain walls flanking the west side of the city, we enter a maze of streets jammed with cars, buses and trucks. Diving left, merging right, and devoting all our attention to not losing the truck, somehow we make the center of town. Catching our breath and high fiving each other, Flavio has negotiated a great rate in the fabulous La Casona Delsol hotel with safe parking before we have our gear off.

Leaving Cusco before sunrise we hop in a mini bus and head for Ollyantaytambo and the train for Machu Picchu. It was here I walked the ancient streets with Father Gio, toured the Temple of the Llama, and drank coffee in a dusty bar. These days the temple is walled off with tickets needed, and the old building with the dirt floors is a modern restaurant with bright stucco walls. Lost in my memories we marvel at the Inca aquaducts channeling water through the streets before boarding the train to Aguas Calientes. Alighting into a mass of tourists, the development is overwhelming as we fight for tickets and bus seats amid a fair amount of confusion. Modern restaurants, coffee shops and boutiques compete for dollars, although the fabulous energy and color makes it hard to resist.

Heading up the tight, narrow road to Machu Picchu, we marvel at glimpses of the Urubamba River being left far behind as we climb. Situated at 7,700 feet into the clouds, it’s known as the “Lost City of the Incas.” Abandoned by the Inca in the 1500s, it was re-discovered in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, an American historian. What made the Inca abandon Machu Picchu might never be known. But to feel the presence and aura that exist as you walk here, it’s clear it was a sacred place.

Our departure was fun, chaotic and fascinating. Coffee in town, barely making our departure, and then a Peruvian fashion show as we ate boxed meals on the modern train. A stark juxtaposition to the last time we rode this rail, when bathroom overflowed as Quechan ladies breast-fed dirty babies and transported all manner of produce and animals.

Stay tuned next week for the final installment of Peru…