Sitting on top of the world...

So yes I have been slack. But let's face it only about 3 people read this other than me so I wonder why I bother. Oh yeah 'cos my diary is almost as behind as the blog!

Go to see some ancient ruins...
Well the third day in Cusco I spent doing a tour of the Sacred Valley with previously mentioned Irish girls. We were the only English speakers on the tour which ment the tour guide would give us the little spiel then let us wander off by ourselves which was nifty and ment that we didn't have to keep up with the group. The first site we saw was the old Inka ruins of Pisaq. A bit of a hike around a mountain on a path that was more single file than double, with a rather spectacular drop into farmland.

The second site was the village of Ollantaytambo which is still inhabited. Most of the ruins are some spectacular terraces- which ment more steps, but there was also aquaducts that are still in use, a rock that looks like the face of Inka (and rather niftily is the point where sunrise occurs during the summer solstice) and a rock that looks like a condor. And there were some fairly adgile goats as well.

The third site was Chinchero which used to be a Inka palace. Until the Spanish came and turned it into a church. You can still see all the old foundation work underneath the Spanish arches and the paintings in the church.

A very full day, and there were many markets, hmm markets. Speaking of which I am a market junkie and have many blankets of bright colours.

City in the clouds...
You can do a day trip to Machu Picchu from Cusco. It involves catching a train at an ungodly hour then a bus to the bottom of the ruins, then climbing, enjoying the view and then doing everything in reverse. It would have been alot nicer had I not got 4 hours sleep and went drinking the night before.

The train ride is plesant enough winding through rural Peruvian countryside with corn, cows, rushing rivers and gum trees. The number of gum trees here are impressive. Apparently in the 1860s the government ordered that gum trees be planted to reforest areas where native trees had been removed. It still freaks me out a little.

Anyhow on Monday I went out to Machu Picchu and despite the weather being less than brillant the mountains were still pretty and covered in whispy clouds. It's a mean engineering feat, granite rocks forming a city on the top of a mountain. And rather pretty to look at. Oh and there are steps.

What is it with the Inka's and steps? And building things on the top of bloody great big mountains? In this altitude? Crazy!

I spent a few hours wandering around the site before spending an hour in the village of Machu Picchu and getting back on the train. Had a lively conversation with two New Yorkers and a Canadian before getting off a stop early and catching the bus back to Cusco where I met up with drinking buddy from the night before and had dinner.

Also sussed out some of the ruins closer to the city and went to the Inka Museum.

The wheels on the bus...
Well after over a week, I braved a bus trip to Puno yesterday. I signed up for a tour bus that stops of at different sites along the way. The Andean Sixtina's Chapel was our first stop, which at the time was being restored. It had a rather impressive altar covered in gold, which interestingly had a mixture of Christian and Inka symbolism in it. Went on to the Raqchi site which is an ancient temple made of volcanic rock and mud bricks as well as an accompanying village. Our last stop was another museum focusing around pre-Inka culture in the region.

Floating about...
Went out on Lake Titicaca today. Spent the morning on Uros, the floating islands. The Uros people are the oldest tribe in the region and they live on floating islands made of reeds. Basically every three months or so another layer of reeds is layer and the ground of the island to make up for the bits that rot from the bottom. Most of the houses are built from reeds and they have boats made from them too. And you can eat them, but they didn't taste too great. Reeds, is there anything they can't do?

It took another 2 hours by boat to get to the island of Taquile. We did a hike to the top of the island which was pretty hard going I must say, felt like my heart was going to explode, but it was well worth it, the sun had come out by that stage and the views of Lake Titicaca were magnificant. There are only a couple of places on this Earth that I have been to where the water is that clear (you can see several meters below the surface) and the air makes the lake seem a gorgeous blue. The view was simply amazing and the island has some beautiful flowers.

100's of languages...
Today I had conversations in English, Spanish, Portugese and Auslan/British Sign Language. It's funny, my brain goes "well we aren't using English so it must be one of those other things we know". It resulted in me speaking Spanish whilst I was signing, which didn't help with the lip reading a single bit. And I found out they have changed the sign for Australia, from a fist then palm against the side of the head (to represent the digger hat) to something than now makes me look like I am imitating a kangaroo. The Europeans laughed. I still think it is better than the sign for France, which looks like you are tweaking a curly moustache.

Cream...
Puno is in party spirit tonight. I went to a concert in the Plaza de Armas which turned into a street party and then was supposed to continue to a proper concert venue. It involved different bands and dancers performing in one spot, then moving and continuing onwards to a different place. It's traditional Peruvian dancing from the region, lots of costumes and twirling of hankerchiefs. And marching bands with a double bass (which was impressive to watch people lug down the street). Oh and shaving cream fights. They have high pressured shaving cream in cans that shoot 2-3meters and *noone* is safe. More to the point the first group of dancers sprayed the croud and I witnessed and was caught in several fights in the several hundred meters from the square to dinner and dinner to this net cafe.

We don't need no education...
Peru must have the best geography teachers in the world. Many of the kids who try to sell you stuff, be it a friendship band, a shoe shine, food or finger puppets also ask you where you are from. On telling them the country you will be told the capital, the flag, the national anthem, the colours of the flag, the head of state and other important features from the country (ie kangaroos!) Next time i am going to say I'm from Turbekistan!