I went back up the mountain after my tough weekend at Marcajirca and camped out for three nights with everybody. A lot of cool stuff was found: a stone spoon, a figurine head, the dog piece from monopoly, a turquoise bead, and a singular tooth. Though we didn't find any new graves, I learned a LOT about just archaeology in general. It was an awesome trip.
We said goodbye to our wonderful teachers, Bebel and Carlos and Anne and Jason and we hopped on an overnight bus back to Lima. That's group started to split up :( at the bus station at 4 AM I said goodbye to a few members of our team and one of our teachers Oscar. It's pretty sad seeing the band break up, but I was excited for the adventures ahead.
My buddies for the week are Tobi and Mackenzie.
But because our bus got in so early, our room was FAR from ready. So for about an hour we just sat in the lobby of our hotel. Enjoying about ten minutes of wifi at a time. Anjulika came with us, she was staying with Alice and felt bad about potentially waking her up super early. So she stayed for about an hour too, until probably 5:30 before leaving.
It was just three of us at that point. We were tired from not sleeping well on the bus, and hungry because they didn't really feed us. It was decided that we would walk the short walk to Parque Kennedy (the park with all the cats) and eat at the McDonalds.
At first, things really seemed to look up. For some reason, none of us were really in the mood for breakfast food (my stateside friends who eat this garbage know that these things are not normally served before 11) and we saw people leaving eating burgers and McNuggets. We go in, leave Tobi on the second floor with our stuff (yeah, this Micky D's had two floors) and got in line for food.
A guy who didn't work there tried to be nice to us and direct us into the shortest line. It was surprisingly packed for just after 6 AM on a Sunday. We make it to the front of the line only to find out that we've been waiting in the food pickup line.
Mackenzie and I quickly move into one of the correct lines and hope food will come to us soon. I start looking around to scope for ketchup. I love ketchup, and sometimes you can ask for packets and sometimes you can pump it into a little paper cup. At this establishment, the condiments were in lunch lady tubs, like the guacamole at Chipotle. The biggest difference from that was that there was no one putting the condiments in nice little cups (not that I expected it to be) it was just an open setting. I go to inspect the amount left in each tub, despite the sketchy looking couple standing right there. In the small moment I was standing there, I made eye contact with the man as he took a bite of a McNugget and proceeded to dip it straight into the tub of ketchup. So that was a little scary, and I decided I could deal with just eating fries with no condiments.
I rejoin Mackenzie in line and patiently wait, trying to forget the horror I just witnessed against ketchup everywhere. The cash registers seemed to be on the fritz a little bit, but everyone ahead of us was paying eventually.
But for SOME REASON when we get to the front of the line, the cashier decided she needs to close the register. She just points us to the back of the next line and we were just so hungry we obliged.
As we get in line once again, a group of about 15-17 people enter the place. They're mostly adolescent men, who decide cheering and rapping at 6:30 in the morning, in a McDonald's was what needed to happen. The girls they were with didn't seem to mind, and also somehow made in line in front of us.
We endure the suddenly rowdy crowd for another 20 minutes until we are once again at the front of the line.
And once again, we are told that that cash register is closed.
At this point, I was hungry, tired, and fed up. I dragged my friends out of that hell hole and back to the hotel.
And in case you're wondering how haggard we looked as a group, upon walking into the front door of the hotel, we were asked "Are you waiting for the bus?" So that was that morning, in case you were wondering.
The day improved though and after spending a night at our beautiful hotel and finally once again feeling clean, we jetted off to Cusco to begin our Machu Picchu trip!
Cool, yet crappy, photo of the mountains from the plane!
On the 18th we arrived in Cusco, a city I think I may like the best of all the cities I've been to in Peru so far. For one, the plane ride is perfect: short and beautiful. You fly between these mountains to see this sprawling city. I don't think I've ever been in a plane that was still so far from landing and at the same time really close to the ground. That may be hard to understand, and I could explain it, but you should just ask me in person.
We had dinner and enjoyed the city at night. Plaza de Armas is SO beautiful! It's all lit up and bustling, and we had awesome pizza. No complaints yet!
The 19th, yesterday, was our day at the one and only Machu Picchu. We were up and out of the hotel by 6 AM, which weirdly by noon didn't feel early enough. Our train kept stopping and it took much longer than expected. But we still made it up the mountain!
Here's the only picture I took on my phone.
I bought this nifty book that allows you to self guide your own tour of the site, and we learned so much!
Machu Picchu was once one of the holiest sites of the Inca empire. It contained the royal family and a number of sacred rocks. It's so remote too it's practically impossible to imagine that every person there had to make an insane trek up to visit. Props to my friends who have completed/will complete the Inca trail, because I sure don't have the attention span or athletic capacity to do it.
Also a notably awesome part of Machu Picchu are the llamas that are allowed to roam anywhere on the site. They just looked so confused and wise at the same time. It was great.
Pictures of all my travels will be posted probably once I'm actually home. Sorry.
Today, the 20th, is Mackenzie's last day with us. She's opted to return home tomorrow morning at 2 AM, so I'm sure she'll have fun with that. We're going to the tattoo parlor today (don't worry Dad, I'm probably only going to get another piercing on my ear), and do some other shopping around!
Update: I did get a piercing. Number 8!
Tomorrow, Tobi and I head back to Lima to be tourists for just a few days more and then this wonderful Peru trip will be over. I can't believe it! I'm not ready to return. But alas, I must. I'll probably write one more post before I go!
As always,
Julia Rose
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