¡Buenas Dias!

I have just had the best shower of my life and the usual, very boring, breakfast of bread, butter, jam, and tea. Yesterday I went to Machu Piccu and had a marvelous day. I awoke at 5 am and walked through the dark streets of Agus Calientes to the bus up to the ruins. Along the way I walked through the fruit and vegetable market busy with locals taking down blue tarps opening up shop and past a Peruvian man whom I had met on the train the night before. Upon eye contact he happily shouted CALIFORNIA!, most likely waking up everyone in a 3 block radius. It came as no surprise that although I was early for the bus there were already 50 people in line. Machu Piccu sure is famous. Luckily they have the whole system dialed and 30 minutes later I was watching the sunrise over the ruins. I have to say that even though I have seen 100s of pictures of the ruins before, shelled out quite a bit of money to get there, and was not alone, the site before me was still powerfully breath taking. After watching the sun rise and the fog roll in and around the ruins for a while I hiked up Wanu Piccu (that famous tall mountain next to the ruins) for an even better view of the ridge Machu Piccu so desperately clings to. It was easy to spend hours walking around the ruins and I passed out in an Incan terrace in the warm sun for awhile before heading back down to the train. On the train I treated myself to a Milky Way and a much needed 2 hour nap. In a few hours I will be on a plane to Lima, then a bus north to Huaraz to start a backpack in the Cordillera Blanca. Cheers to big mountains, ancient cultures, warm showers, and friendly faces. Did you know one of the national food specialities is guinea pig?