Run in with a llama at Machu Picchu

On the 5th day of our Andes trek, we visited Machu Picchu, which was spectacular. The quality of the structures, all the spiritual symbols, astronomical observatories, and complex social strucures all built into the city are amazing. And the surrounding mountains are breathtaking. It´s no wonder the Incas chose that location. When we arrived, early in the morning, there were low clouds hanging over the tops of the mountains and some of the ruins. As the day went on, the sun came out and lit up the ruins. We spent about half a day at the ruins, part on a tour with our guide and part on our own. When we went off on our own, I went to take pictures of the cute little llamas that wander around eating the grass on the agricultural terraces of the ruins. Here you can see how cute they look.

Well, they aren´t that cute when they are running up a trail in your direction.

Right after I took the picture above, that llama started to move from the terrace he was on. I thought he would cross the trail and go to another terrace, but no, he started running up the trail, right at me. You can see the action shot below. Scary, right? Jeff didn´t think so. He just laughed while I climbed up the side of a terrace to escape the crazy llama. But then the llama came up on the terrace after me. I was sure he was about to run me down so I ran accross the terrace and tried to scale the wall to the next terrace down. This didn´t work so well so I eventually went very quietly past the llama back to the path. Jeff thought this was all very funny and took lots of pictures, but you´ll notice, he is behind me when we decided to tiptoe past the llama.

The rest of our visit was thankfully less eventful. We had a great time wandering around and admiring the ruins. We had half a day to expore Aguas Calientes after that. The town is full of tourists and the restaurants compete for business by offering free drinks or all day happy hour. Or, our favorite offer: free nachus with wackamole (this was the English translation of "guacamole" on the menu). I love me some wack-a-mole with my chips.

On our way back we met some nice people on the train. They were visiting from Guatemala for a UNESCO conference. The lady sitting across from me on the train is the Minister of Culture for Guatemala. Sounds like we´ll have to put Guatemala on our adventure wish list.

Today, we spent the day in Cusco hanging out in the sun and relaxing. We went to the Bolivian consulate to get our visas. It must have been a slow day at the consulate because the Bolivian consul gave us a long rundown of all the things to do in all of Bolivia (which is quite a large country). When we left the consulate, he joined us for lunch around the corner then invited us back to the consulate after lunch so he could share more tips about Bolivia. I thought we were pretty set on travel tips. Just in case though, he asked for the name and phone number of our hostel so he could call us if he thought of anything else we should see in Bolivia.

We leave tomorrow morning for Bolivia but may spend one night in Puno, Peru depending on the bus connections. Adios Peru! Hola Bolivia!