Cuzco in the evening

I see that I didn't say anything that I was going to Cuzco. Well, when I woke up at 5:30 in the morning at that horrible hostel I decided to just go to Nazca and take the flight over the Nazca lines at 8:00 am. After 8 it gets really hot. I got there a little later and I felt so roasted by the heat that I just decided to take a day off, sipping mate de coca tea and resting in the atrium of a local museum. After the two weeks of oppressive heat, especially in the desert, my body just said no to any activity. So I decided to skip the flight over the lines - which are the mysteriuos lines which can be seen in full beauty only from the plane - and go to Cuzco. Nazca is relatively close to Lima so I can see them some other time. I boarded the bus to Cuzco at 5 pm and got here at 9 am the next morning. 14 hours on the bus totally killed me. I will not do this again. Or if I do this, it will have to be a more comfortable bus. This wasn't a chicken bus but not much better, really. At 7 am we encountered a river which overflew and destroyed part of the road. I thought "great, we will be stuck here until they repair it" but no, the people got off the bus, the men quickly made stepping stones for the people to pass to the other side and the bus driver skillfully navigated the bus through the river. I was full of admiration for him. I told one of the passangers how it seemed the bus was ready to tip over at one point and he said that well, yes, sometimes it happens... All the buses going to Cuzco travel at night. But I could see the beautiful mountains before it got dark yesterday and then today in the morning from 5:30 am. The whole 14-hour trip was basically going up and up the hills. It's good I wasn't sitting on the window side - the road is narrow and there are no railings of any kind. Even from where I was sitting it looked like we would dive into the abyss any moment... The villages we passed looked much better than the ones I saw in Chiapas and Guatemala. Once the mountains started being covered with fertile soil I could see patches of farm land. Every piece of land is cultivated. These people must be really hard-working: to cultivate the land they must be constantly going up and down the hills. From the distance the mountains and the farmland looked amazingly beautiful. At one point in the evening yesterday we stopped at a road-side restaurant and I had some supper and then I talked to kids, six of them, and I couldn't believe how smart and serious they were, and what a great sense of humor they had! One of girls was five years old and she was carying her one-year old brother on her back in the traditional sack. They asked me if I would stay in their town and see it because it's beautiful and I was tempted to do this. I love these little sleepy towns, more than the famous bigger towns like Cuzco. Cuzco is bautiful: very beautfiul architecture, nice restaurants and little cafes, stores with artesanas, jewerly, etc. Very nice but revolving around tourists... I prefer places like the port of St. Andres and the little town the name of which I don't even know (the kids told me but I fell asleep and I forgot...). I can really get friendly to the people who live there and see their daily life. In places like Cuzco it's hard to become a friend to the local people since I am the source of their main income... Tomorrow I am going to go to four little towns and some markets since it's Sunday and the markets are supposed to be good. Gene, I will look for mushrooms for you! I almost booked a trekking expedition for six days to Machu Pichu on Monday but I talked to the guide and he suggested I give myself some time to accommodate to the altitude. Today I feel dizzy and can't really breathe so I think he is right - I should drink coca tea and eat glucose pills - that is his recommendation. The highest point during the trek is over 6,000 meters so one should be prepared. And I will have to find a place which rents down jackets - it's very cold up in the mountains. Good, I need something to cool me down after the hot weather of the past weeks. The trek I decided to do is not the Inca Trail. I would hate to be stompeded by the tourists on the Inca Trail who go there by truckloads so I chose a different route which is totally not popular but I heard equally beautiful if not more beautiful. And then the small group of people and I will be able to admire the beauty of the mountains, valleys, streams and waterfalls in peace and quietness... Thank you for your e-mails! I will respond to them tomorrow. I will go to bed early to rest still from that tough bus ride... Much love to all!