Un gran viaje/ A huge trip!

Hello everyone,

As I step out of the jungle I am now back and ready to update again on my comings and goings. It's definitely good to be back here in Cusco and despite having class it was nice to relax a bit and do some work that I needed to get done. Which reminds me, time for all those juicy details!

Saturday was the day we set off from Cusco to Machu Picchu. Our trip began at 8:00am sharp when we stepped up onto our bus with the entire Rutgers study abroad crew from both hostels abroad. Our faithful guide Roger was already at our hostel watching us finish breakfast and making sure we grabbed all of our bags and our passports. After we got on the bus we rolled out of Cusco in the direction of Ollantaytambo. If some of you remember, we were already in Ollantaytambo once already when we visited the ruins and the terraces there, but this time the attraction was a bit further than the ruins up the hill. Our primary reason was to catch the train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes where we were scheduled to spend the night. We needed to drive instead of simply taking the train from Cusco because the train ride takes over an hour but the drive is only about 15 minutes.

Our train ride got off without a hitch and we didn't even have to leave anyone behind. We rode the Inca Rail line and the train ride was honestly as close to perfect as public transportation can get. We traveled along the iconic Urubamba river the entire way and the mountains and scenery rising up along the sides of the canyon were extremely picturesque. Here are a few shots I took just on the train:



After the two hour ride we ended up in the "last outpost" of Aguas Calientes. This town is nestled at the base of the mountain Putu Kusi and sits directly alongside the Urubamba river. It is a town based almost solely on tourism and the prices of everything clearly reflect it. On top of the steep prices there is a 19% local tax that is applied everywhere you go. Despite this, our trip included two buffet meals that were excellent and very filling as well as a night and breakfast in El Santuario, a very nice hotel, so we didn't have to spend very much money at all.

One of the highlights of the whole trip so far was when we had some free time after lunch to take a look around and see what we could see. As many of you probably guessed, I ended up fishing for about three hours in the river that is right on the edge of the main road in the town. I tried my own methods for about an hour and a half downriver without any results so I decided to pack up and take a walk up towards the town. When I got pretty close I noticed some local guys fishing and I immediately made a beeline over to them to see what they were doing. Their techniques, I can honestly say, would not be the first ones I would think of. They were using giant (about 18 to 20 foot) lengths of cane/bamboo with mono tied to the tip. They used about two feet more line than the pole length in total and at the end they had a piece of lead and a hook baited with either worms or some kind of giant hellgramite. They used these giant rods and weighted presentations to plumb the depths of the deep but isolated pools of the river. They needed the length to put the bait exactly where they wanted it and present it vertically and right at the bottom. While I was watching and talking to them comparing notes one of them hooked a huge rainbow trout that leaped out of the water only to break free from the hook. Using their techniques the fisherman told me they routinely catch trout up to three kilos in those same waters (somewhere between 6 and 7 pounds) so I immediately got pretty excited. I tried their technique with my fly rod and I had it down for the most part but I didn't end up catching anything. The best part, however, was the fact that when I showed them the flies I was fishing with they couldn't believe what they were seeing. They asked how much they would cost in the states and I told them that I had made them all. Then they got even more flabbergasted and wanted to buy them off of me immediately! I ended up selling them a few and even teaching them how to tie an improved clinch knot but just knowing that I was helping people fish in a different way and participating in an interchange of knowledge from one continent and culture to another really made me feel great. I can't say I've had that much fun fishing without catching anything but I do realize that there is a lot more to fishing now than I had previously thought. I guess it comes with a bit more maturity and contact with other people from different places but I honestly felt privileged to be talking and fishing with those guys.

Well, now that I've put those of you who don't fish to sleep, I'll proceed with the details of the trip. After dinner that night and getting ready for the big trip the next day I went to bed happy and excited in my hotel room. The next morning we woke up at 4:45am for a 5:00am breakfast and headed to the bus station to make our way up the mountain to Machu Picchu. I was very antsy and wanted to get going because I knew that Huayna Picchu, the smaller mountain in the background of all the famous pictures of Machu Picchu, only took 400 people per day to climb and after that it was closed. I saw about a dozen buses pass by our hotel that morning during breakfast and I was getting kind of disappointed thinking I would miss out on the climb.

Once we got there after the bus ride I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The city was simply majestic sitting in its imposing position looking over the river valley and the jungle to the east. It is an extremely interesting Incan ruin because it marks the first and last effort to enter the region of the jungle on the eastern side of the Andes. The Incans, after having gotten used to their Andean habitat and environment didn't know how to adapt to jungle life and the dangers and challenges that it presented. The city of Machu Picchu was built in about 60 to 70 years but was only inhabited for about 30 years after it was completed and was then completely abandoned. There are many theories about why the Incans left especially since it was considered a royal city but the leading ones all have to do with the jungle and the problems that it caused for the mostly mountainous Incans. Here are a few pictures that I got while I was up and climbing around the famous ruins:




So, in regards to that mountain climbing... We all didn't end up able to climb Huayna Picchu but we did find a more than suitable alternative. While five of our group went up Huayna Picchu (because there were a few slots left), the rest of us decided to climb up the mountain Machu Picchu is actually on and which has the same name. Our group of about 10 of us made it to the top and it was honestly one of the most satisfying feelings I have ever had. Me and my friend Joyce were the first ones up and we only took 48 minutes of what normally takes between one hour and one hour thirty minutes. It was an extremely taxing climb but the view of the ruins AND Huayna Picchu far below was something I definitely don't think I'll forget. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:






Needless to say, after we came down we were exhausted and we ended up right back at he buffet for the second meal which we thought was quite well deserved considering our mountaineering efforts.

We made our way back to Cusco beginning at 2:00pm and we finally arrived at the hostel at 6:40. After a nice shower and a bit of unpacking I fell into bed for a well-deserved rest.

Finally, today we started our last week of school and we learned about conjugating verbs in the present in Quechua today. We also got a huge list of infinitives to learn and practice.

The biggest scholastic effort of the day was definitely finishing my paper on Andean Myths. I had finished 2 pages the night before but I needed to email it in tonight. I got it done and I'm feeling good about the presentation tomorrow. Afterwards I'm scheduled to make some recordings of my Quechua professor and I even have an appointment set up for Wednesday. It certainly looks like things are shaping up with the research!

Thanks again everyone for reading and I'm sorry this is so long, I just felt that it was definitely the best trip yet so I figured I would share it with everyone while I can! Talk to you all soon!