Macchu Piccho - The Third Day! -Nov 5

dearest fabulous family and friends,

It is the third day of the Jungle journey to Macchu Picchu and you will remember last night settled me into the town of Santa Theresa.. in all its' glory and joyful loud spanish night life! well, i at least heard the night life and tried to sleep..

the next morning i lightened my backpack and left my wet towel at the hostel.. what ever I can do for Gia at this point as he is being a sport and happily carrying my backpack. thank you Gia!

we had breakfast at the same restaurant which was amazing pancakes wrapped around a banana.. just yummy and headed out from the town.. which appears in construction in the daylight.. and prosperous..and walked down a long stairway to the edge of the river bed.. now there was an option to take a bus to the hydroplant but we decided to " do it right" and walk the whole way. my understanding was about 6 hours ..

down the long staircase the river presents itself.. meandering like before.. with boulders and round stones along its' edge. . the path so far has been scenic, varied and interesting with lots of distractions and entertainment.. the boulders and stones that we are walking around appear to be newly excavated by gigantic machines and it isn't like any authentic inca trail in any way... it is hot, and not beautiful.. yes the mountains are beside us to our left, past the riverbank and ahead of us in the distance.. we cannot see Macchu Picchu yet..

alerted for trails across mountains i can see one in the distance.. are we going up there again.... hoping not.... we walk.. it is kindof like river bed.. round stones... and if i had to dance this would be the place hopping from one to another and around this one and that... i like the variety.. i have my hiking legs now and my wind is much better than even when we started... gavin the army guy, likes the regularity of steps the same size , so this probably isn't doing much for him...

we cross a big bridge and then follow the road.. this isn't pretty either but we are almost under the mountain and it is cool so this is wonderful relief for me.. glad to have a hat and a cover for my face the dust whirls around us as buses, vans and an occasional taxi cruise by us...

we find an incredible falls pouring out the mountain and under the road... we do a balancing act down the path and watch the water dance and rainbows form above the misting, splashing water... it is fascinating and i am happy for a rest.... this is the third time in my life i have seen a double rainbow... one the morning logan was born, the second on a trip to toronto in the fall of 1998, and now here..magical...it is late morning now and we will walk this dirty road to the hydro plant ... an hour away?

as we are watching the falls who appears? a van full of those athletic twenty year olds... who chose to ride rather than walk.. i can't believe it!!
anyway , we continue to walk after the falls in the dust and the dirt of the road....

we arrived at the hydro plant which sits a distance below Macchu Picchu and cross a bridge having had our paperwork inspected and approved. all very official for sure.
Just over the bridge we see the resting place for lunch and it is a welcome relief to me because i am hot and it has been one of those walks that sheer determination alone took over on.

there is a small covered area with tables in bright tablecloths shaded with a make shift roof of tarps.. quite lively and colourful.. a vendor sells gatorade and chocolate bars beside a door marked banjo... orders are taken and i spread flat out on a bench like other travellers including gavin.. just a breather before lunch.. it is probably 1ish and we can see macchu picchu in the distance.. still in the distance...
we are served soup and chicken.. you always get soup when you order in restaurants here .. it is part of the meal and lunches are full meals, like we would have at dinner. on this trip there have been buns and sometimes small dishes of tomatoes with peppers as a relish.. and coca tea sweetened substantially with sugar is the norm at all meals. i am trying to think of the times a cold drink is served.. maybe there was one here.. don´t remember. a frothy lemonade is one fabulous drink if you don´t want cerveza.. beer.

we eat and carry on.. fyi (fyo) the banjo is typical.. a small space 3 by 4 with a toiletseatless toilet, wastecan for paper and notice to tourists to use it. there is a space between the floor and the wall and a tap outside for washing up... all just feet away from the tables where we ate.

off we go.. soon we hit the railway tracks which we follow forever.. these are made of the same railway ties that we have with broken up stone.. similar to slag rock black.. in between the inside and outside ties.. they are irregular and so i have to concentrate hard on where i am walking.. a bit of a pain but the dancing is fun. gavin the army guy, on the other hand does not like the irregularity at all and chooses to walk on the side.. (poor paths) .. for more of the time than not, since the ties break his army rhythm..

we are in the jungle or bush now, and there are momentary interuptions of trains passing by with villagers who get dropped off .. seemingly just anywhere... then wandering into the bush.. sometimes there are stalls with vendors selling milliondollar gatorade... 5sols and other treats.. we always buy gatorade or powerade because it really does seem to do the trick... our gia is happy.

it rains... and rains.. no matter.. we trudge along........ at this point gavin has got his stride on and he takes off ahead.. gia and i enjoy the walk together. he is faithful to me and has stolen my heart... of course he still has my very heavy pack on his back.. and remains all toothless smiles.

finally we get to a place where gia points out the hike we will be doing tomorrow morning at 4 am. straight up.. one hour... to that place... it really is straight up.. straight up to macchu picchu.. it looks wild! but it doesn´t daunt me like it would have four days ago!

we walk the road up and into a charming little town called Ollataytambo.... passing a large parking lot that buses will fill... up and up and up.... looks a bit like condos or luxury apartments as we walk.. hoping this is where we are staying ... no ... past this .... little stalls on the sidewalk market the same wares we have seen everywhere.... finally we enter the centre of town.. up the stairs and we are at last shown to our quarters.. a very wonderful room with tiled floors, white sheets on twin beds with matching wool blankets.. and a great .. blue tiled washroom...hopefully with hot water.. it is the best hostel i have seen in all of Peru! and we are grateful for it.. our gia is in a different room. wish he was with us with his new pan flute!

we wander the streets and go to great dinner at the gia´s sister´s restaurant and then shop for a while. this little town is more quaint than i have seen.. small walkways are between the stores and there are no cars here.. just stone pathways and lots of touristy and arty shops. we shop..find an amazing painting for 200us which i resist .. a shaman.. large with a perfect face... good thing i have no walls at home.. great shopping for gifts and easy to walk around in ..quaint.

about nine we go back to our hostel to find gia waiting up for us with papers in hand to be signed and organized for our morning expedition. nice of him . he is the perfect guide and care taker. never a worry about anything.

easy to sleep. we reload backpacks to condense down to one for morning which comes early.

all my love my special ones. i am stretching some boundaries for all of us and it isn´t hurting too much anymore. i appreciate everything and especially you. huggggggggggggssss and kiissssssssssssssssessss to my favorites. love mom, me......

ps i love you in my pockets! will send pics