Two no shows, and one sick Triceratops...Could´ve been worse

Imagine being the first one to put up a retaining wall...One bad step and it will be your last. This place is nestled between towering granite mountains.  Amazing 

A tiny window between the fog, clouds, and rain. Behind is Wayna Picchu mountain

Ever seen a rainbow below you? 

They needed some help moving this boulder at Saqsaywaman, I´m so strong.  Only 20% of the site still remains and there are rocks weighing up to 200 ton.  Try moving that by hand!! (in Cuzco)

Well, what a week!  Machu Piccu was amazing and frusturating all in the same.  I finally make it to Aguas Calientes and am in love with the land surrounding it.  This town was created for tourist going to Machu Picchu, which gives it little historical value.  It is the closest ¨town¨ and if you stay here you can avoid the train full of day-trippers to Machu in the morning. Super toursity but it has lush green mountains towering around all sides of this tiny little town with an unbelivably strong and giant river tossing its way through.  This little town has nothing to offer in terms of traditional people but the enviornment that it is tucked away in is amazing!
The day I arrived was hot and sunny.  Rained that night but it was a warmish rain... rainforest rain, go figure.  The next day, bright and early, I got on the bus and made it to Machu by 7.  Cold, raining, foggy.  Went through and tried to go as fast as I could to get pics without people and later I would appreciate the overwhelming history of the place.  I got to Wayna Picchu and stood in line.  I was under the notion that the first 400 people were permitted to climb this amazing mountain with caves and historic sites.  They said no, the ticket you need as at the enterence.  Ok, maybe I still had a shot.  Went all the way back to the enterence and they said go back to Aguas Calientes to get the ticket.  Fine. It looked like a stupid mountain anyway.  Next, I tried Machu Picchu Mountain.  That sounded like it was included.  No.  Go back to Aguas Calientes.  I may have started to enjoy that there was soo much fog at this point cause people wouldn´t be able to see from the beautiful mountain tops anyways!  Bitter? Maybe.  It was still amazing though.  Parts of the history, the people, what it meant to be apart of that society and what it took to build it.  Not to mention the site wasn´t recorded as an acutal site for over 300 years.  Totally tucked away in the overgrown forest.  No Spanard was ever permittd to enter so when the Inca died out, so did the knowledge of M.P. Beautiful.
Nasty blisters formed so I decided to get an earlier train back rather than do more hiking the next day.  Turns out my ticket wasn´t valid.  I raised a stink and they got me a new one.  Awesome.  Coming home we hit nasty traffic.  Not too sure what the hold up was but it involved a tourist bus and blah blah.  We got out at the right time.  Took an hour to go less than a mile.  People after us were going to be stuck for HOURS. Eww.  The second hold up was an actual accident.  Bus hit a train.  Derailed it. Causualities. Drove by it and it kinda gave us all an appreciation for life.  Then, about a half hour later, trying to make up for lost time the taxi driver hit and killed a dog.  Weird trip. But, safe and sound :)
Just got to Arequipa this morning and not sure if I will make it to midnight.  I know, I´m such a party animal! I want to hike another mountain before going into the second deepest canyon of the world. I don´t think I can make it to the volcano around here, El Misti.  It is way higher than the last (5822 m vs 4760m) and as much as I want to prove I can do it, I´m not going to get crazy here :)  We will see.  Hope you are all doing well and had an amazing Christmas! Happy New Years friends and family!!