Pisac, Ollantaytambo, Moray, Maras, MachuPicchu

Pisac, Ollantaytambo, Moray, Maras, MachuPicchu

Cusco definitely grew on me as the days went by, as it was cheap, convenient and full of things to do and see, albeit full of tourists! On my second day I headed to the market for a super cheap, and super filling, lunch, followed by 4 glasses of "lucuma" juice: a great deal! On my way out of the market I noticed a lady selling strange fried balls with peppers or tomatoes inside...I was stuffed, but my curiosity got the best of me and I couldn't resist buying some and storing them in my bag for a snack later on...I went on a guided city tour in the afternoon, which definitely wasn't my thing, but it covered several ruins within and around Cusco: Saqsaywaman, Q'enqo, PukaPukara, and another one...too many tourists and too lkttle to see, if you ask me!
The next day my stomach woke me up before my alarm did, and it was not pleasant! I was bloated, with stomach cramps and shivers, and I had to visit the bathroom a few times...I knew by then that those fried "balls" had not settled well in my stomach! Just thinking about them gave me gag reflexes by then! I definitely knew right away who the culprit was...but as they say, curiosity killed the cat I guess! I tried to get my day started, since I had many plans, but everything got delayed a little bit! I eventually reached Pisac, a nice little town that's part of the Valle Sagrado, the valley surrounding Cusco...I was in pain, but I was trying my best to forget about it and make the best of my day! While in town I got to eat some "pizza flavored" empanadas cooked in their typical ovens, next to which they had Guinea pig temples, that is little catles made of mud and clay where a bunch of Guinea pigs ("cuy" is a national "delicacy" here!) were running around! I took a taxi up to the Inca ruins, which were amazing and surrounded by beautiful terraces! The whole thing was quite a hike and the altitude was kicking in, in addition to my stomach being upset, but it was worth it!
I then caught a local bus to the next ruins at Ollantaytambo, which featured the same terraces and were in a similar setting as Pisac. After a few more crowded-to-the-max local buses I got off and took an expemsive taxi to Maras and up and down a winding road amidst beautiful mountains to reach Moray, a huge "hole" made of terraced land where every "floor" has a completely distinct eco-system and different crops are grown; how all of this happens and works has been a mystery since the Incas, but it's quite an amazing sight that was used by the Incas for agricultural "experiments"...you can walk all the way down to the bottom of it, from where your voices echoes resoundingly, and I was told that the place never gets flooded even during rain season...quite amazing!
My next place was even better: the salt pools by Maras! It's another breath-taking setting for an incredible number (around 300 I think) of little pools where salty water from the mountain flows through and eventually evaporates leaving behind salt that has been used since Inca times. The most fascinating thing was seeing how the water had found ways to feed all of the different, numerous pools through little canals!
After another super crowded, standing room only, local bus I made it back to Cusco skipping Chinchero, because it was getting dark and my stomach was telling me to get to a bathroom as soon as humanly possible! By this time, my whole body was shaking and aching, I had shivers and my head was hurting...it seemed to me like a mild case of altitude sickness on top of my stomch problems! I made it back to Cusco and by then every step seemed like a daunting task, my head was spinning and I had trouble putting up with the noise, the traffic and the crowds! 
The next day was Christmas Eve and I woke up the same way as the day before...judging by my immediate trip to the bathroom, whatever had been causing this pain had not yet made it through my body, but I told myself it would be a matter of hours (boy, was I wrong?!) and boarded my minibus for MachuPicchu! The route was once again spectacular and we reached over 4500m before descending along a winding road under heavy rains...this 6-hour trip proved to be anything but boring, as we had a flat on the way up, avoided a minivan that was upside down in the middle of the road, as well as several rocks along the way! Once we descended into jungle-like territory, a local "tire shop" gave us a new one in exchange for the one that was flat (all of this was done in a primitive way, which needed 2 people and involved hammering away at the poor tires!).
We eventually reached a place from where we could walk to Aguas Calientes, but the rain was intense and I decided to pay for the extremely overpriced train thst took almost an hour to cover 9 km!!! Once into town, K, K, M and I found a cheap hostel for the night and proceeded to check out the local hot springs, a series of 6-7 natural pools filled with hot, murky water...it was pretty relaxing!!!
We went to dinner for Christmas Eve and spent the rest of the evening till midnight walking around the little touristy town, then exploded some fircrackers and went to bed!
The next day, Christmas Day as well, started at 4.30 when we woke up and wouldn't end till very late at night...it was still dark when the 3 Japanese and I headed out of town towards MachuPicchu on foot to avoid the super expensive "shuttle bus" after we had paid over 40$ just for the entrance to the MP ruins! The steep 3.5km hike took us over an hour through the deep forest under the rain, and gave us a better idea of how remote this Inca city must have been in the past! The location was definitely exceptional, high up over a rough river and amidst tall, lush mountains...so lush that when we first got to the ruins we could not see anything!!! Thick, white clouds were covering the whole place like a blanket, and the tropical rain was not helping of course!!! The disappointment was evident among us, especially after having had to pay so much money and wait so long to get there...it almost seemed like a legalized scam to me, and that's one of the things that upsets me the most when I travel! Of course it was nobody's fault, but the Christmas Day I had pictured in my mind couldn't be further away from reality! We walked around the ruins tryin to make sense of it all, and seemed quite content with taking pictures of llamas for a bit, since they were the only visible thing then! Walking for a few hours in the cold and thick rain was definitely unpleasant, but it was made even worse by the clouds and fog that prevented anyone from getting an idea of the size and majesty of the whole place, and after we had made it all the way around the whole Inca city we paused at the panoramic spot a little bit longer till it was time to trek back to Aguas Calientes...we were there waiting with other people when all of a sudden came the winds to swipe away the clouds, and little by little, within a minute or so and for no longer than a few minutes...wow, that is what MachuPicchu usually looks like from up here! It was short but amazing, and excitement was in the air as people were trying to take as many pictures as possible in such a short time! The very same way as one that is hungry becomes satisfied once he/she gets a full belly, all of us who had been longing for a decent view of MP felt so much better after just a couple of minutes of semi-clear skies! 
It was finally time to hike back down to town and hop on the train that took us back to our minibuses, all the while dreaming of a warm shower and dry clothes! The whole trip back had seemed like a minor detail when explained to me back in Cusco, as all I was focused on was getting to MP in the cheapest possible way without wasting too many days! After a quick stop in Santa Teresa for some bananas, bread and water (my staple considering my enduring stomach issues!) we were warned of a landslide further ahead in the road, which gave us just a glimpse of the long adventure that would ensue...we eventually drove to the point where the road was literally almost cut in half and we could barely walk across...by then, our "guides" had abandoned us in Santa Teresa and our driver was waiting on the other side of the hole waiting for more tourists to come his way...if there's anything worse than paying a lot of money, it is paying a lot of money and getting nothing in return...like our little "9km in 50 minutes" train, like our "tour guides" that along the 6 hour trip there didn't say a word to any of us and were so quick to disappear when a problem arose...there were many times along my journey to MP when I felt like people were ripping us off and enjoying it...and more then once I had the feeling that MP itself was not worth all the money and effort to get there...but of course I had to suck it up and just see it as a once in a lifetime thing! 
Anyway, back to the 12 abandoned tourists on the other side of the landslide...somehow all the people coming the other way had been left off by their vehicles further down the road, so that they were able to jump on our original bus, but we had no one coming to our help...till we found a minivan loaded with locals, and we bargained our way on till the next little town, Santa Maria. Once there, we found some more people stranded because of the landslide, and not many vehicles coming through to take them anywhere, also because it was the day after Christmas Eve, when people celebrate, stay up late and often drink way too much...most locals celebrate this way, including the ones who are in the tourist industry and get paid good money to drive tourists around...which would eventually impact our day and could have impacted our lives in a dramatic way...back to the 12 of us in little, sleepy Santa Maria, waiting for a miracle to happen, a minibus to appear and take us back to Cusco by nightfall...F and I started walking around and eventually ran into the offices of our little "agency" with a nice minibus with a big sticker bearing the same name...we approached them right away, td them what had happened to us, when one of them recognized F and admitted that they had heard of our little landslide problem!!!! haha They had heard of it, but they made sure to mind their own business and do anything but provide us with a solution! We pointed to the bus next to us asking them that they take all 12 of us back to Cusco...they incredibly agreed after saying that the 3 of us who had "contracted" their "agency" would ride for free, but the other ones would have to pay their way back...we agreed and ask to leave immediately...immediately is interpreted in a variety of ways here, so I jumped on the bus while F went to get everyone else ready to go...after a few calls, chats with various friends and strangers along the way we were eventually on our way...it was almost too good to be true!!!
That's right, because after a few hours we noticed that the "driver's assistant" was doing anything he could to keep the driver awake...at the top of the mountain pass he stopped to smoke a cigarette, and once we got back on the road I soon noticed that he was descending too too slowly and erraticly even considering the fog and rain...so I started paying attention and caught him swerving pretty badly a few times, after which I told him he could stop for a power nap if he wanted to...of course he denied everything, till he stopped by a house to drink some water and quickly took back to the wheel...by then, his little assistant had given up and moved to a seat where he was peacefully sleeping, while the driver's eyes and use of the brakes were anyrhing but reassuring! Some of us, the Italians, decided to take matters into our own hand as I moved upfront to be the next driver's assistant, since I was the one who spoke the most Spanish...I did my best to keep him awake, change songs, open some windows and switch to cold air...all of this would only last 20 or so minutes till the driver would inevitably get more and more sleepy...so then I would beg him to stop, take a walk with him in the freezing, dark night and make sure he was more alert before getting behind the wheel again...here I was in a dark, cold night on the Andes, trying to keep the driver from killing me and 11 other tourists, some of which, lucky them, were too asleep to even notice anything!!! What an end to our Christmas Day!
As were getting closer and closer to town, his comatose state at the wheel would get worse and worse...I tried to ask him as many questions as possible, ones that required him to think of the answer, and the more questions I asked, the scarier I became because of his non-sense replies...ones I remember were: "how many people live in Cusco?" "7...no, 5!", or "where is everyone?" "Santana" (the name of the part of town we were driving through!). We finally, eventually made it back at a quarter to 1, for a 6 hour trip had started at 15.30! Most of us were in shock, sleepy but extremely relieved to have made it back in one piece, after such a nightmarish experience on Christmas Day!