Third World Transportation

We had another nice day in the Cusco region, seeing some local towns. Prior to our arrival, we were aware that this area had seen very heavy rains and this contributed to our missing a visit to Machu Picchu. While tucked away in bed last night, trying to stay warm in the cold Cusco night, we heard the sound of more rain on the rooftops and saw bright flashes of lightning and echoing thunder and wondered what that might make of our Saturday plans.

We caught several buses today - the first to Pisac - and our bus avoided many landslides that covered various spots along the highway. (My first observation about bus travel is that brakes aren´t used very often.) We sped around the rocks and dirt, and neared Pisac, to see a swirling, brown river flowing furiously; instead of crossing the bridge, the driver parked and we realized that the far end of the bridge had been dislodged from the bank. No crossing there! We walked down a muddy road to a foot bridge, and carefully crossed to the other side, where we hired a taxi to take us to an Inca citadel. When we were close to the entrance, our driver offered to tuck us away in the back of his wagon and cover us, so we could save money on our entrance ticket! This way, he could make money and the park wouldn´t make any. We opted to pay our price at the gate.

The scenery here in the Sacred Valley is quite beautiful. The mountains rise so steeply and are crowned with clouds or snow, while clothed in the greenest fields and forests (quite different from home) but still amazing. We walked along the trail to the citadel, minding both our steps and our breaths, as we seem to run out of both quickly at this elevation. I´m still in awe of how the Incas built their walls on such steep terrain; from a distance, I counted around 65 terraces on the entire mountainside! We only saw a few others walking around this site, and it was nice to be in a peaceful place in the cool air. (On that note, it is interesting here because the air is quite cold, but the sun is SO hot. I can best compare it to a campfire on a cold night - everything is cold around you, except the direction of heat. The sun is deceiving at this elevation as well; we are thoroughly crisped after yesterday, even with multiple applications of sunscreen!)

From Pisac, we found a bus to Urubamba. The city wasn´t our destination as much as the travel our opportunity to get a great view of the Sacred Valley. We did cross an overflowing creek in the middle of the road, which seemed a little deep for my comfort. (My second observation is that bus drivers aren´t really afraid of anything in their way on the road. Good job for persevering through rock piles and floods.) We were actually very fortunate to not come across any washed away road, but our hearts were wrenched for the families whose houses were destroyed by the raging river and flooding. It´s one experience to see people living so poorly and completely another to see people (who have so little) have everything taken away.

After we found a place for lunch, we found another bus to Cusco. We climbed out of the valley through more beautiful fields and farms and thought this final trip of the day was going to be uneventful. We did not expect the man who refused to pay to punch the fare collector. We also did not expect the fare collector to punch the man back and create involvement from all of the passengers, but it seemed everyone had an opinion about the situation and was voicing it at once. The unpaying man sat back down, but he bled and bled and bled, and finally, while passing through a small town, the passengers shouted out about seeing a police car, so we pulled over and the offending parties stepped off to discuss the situation with the police officers. The bus driver, the fare collector and a witness returned to the bus and we started on our way again, while the unpaying man was left behind to work out his situation with the officers. (My final observation about bus drivers is that they demand you pay a price, one way or another!)

We finished our day in Cusco with a visit to the local artisan market to pick up a souvenir or two and a local restaurant for another pizza and pair of Cokes.

We have found ourselves on the last day of vacation, and even though we have had a wonderful time, we are ready to be at home again. Tomorrow morning, we´ll fly back to Lima and visit with a friend from Athey who lives there now with her husband, before leaving for home at midnight. We´ll be back in Portland around noon on Monday and will look forward to seeing you soon! :)