Sacred Valley

So we´ve now been through the Sacred Valley - and really, who needs toilet seats, anyway? We started in Pisac for
the popular Market they have there. It supposedly is only on
Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays but we were there for a few days and
it was every day. Nice market, cute town and we got to see some of
Pisac´s ruins. We didn´t realize how expensive it would be (even
though our crappy book told us) so we ended up buying the big pass
that gets you into about 15 places around the Sacred Valley and now we
really have some sights to see. We have to see them, we´ve already
paid for it!

They were big ruins and took about 2 hours to get through with a lot
of walking up and down. We met a nice girl from Venezuela on the way
there and shared a taxi with her and she kept saying thank goodness
she met us because she would have been lost in the ruins without us.
We were lost too, but three people finding their way is more
comforting I guess. They usually have blue arrows to guide you but
sometimes they just let you kinda feel your way out - not so awesome.

After Pisac we headed for Ollantaytambo (Oh-yawn-tay-tambo) where we
stayed one night and saw THEIR ruins. There are ruins everywhere.
Also quite the hike uphill and this time we were joined by a billion
tour groups - which are a pain to get around on tiny trails when one
side is just a drop off to a long fall below. But we got to see some
beautiful scenery up there and although our camera died about 10
minutes into it, we posted as much as we could on Photobucket!

Now we´re in Aguas Calientes - which is the town closest to Machu
Picchu. We plan to get up around 430 am to head over to MP and
hopefully (cross your fingers) be 2 of the 400 people allowed each day
to see Hyuana Picchu - the highest part that´s supposed to be amazing,
although not for the faint of heart. I guess the climb up to it is
steep and you hang onto a rope most of the time. And it takes and
hour and a half. Sa-weet. Hopefully our out of shape bodies can
handle it. We´ve got to run into MP, find the area where you sign up
and then wait in some line. Sounds complicated but I think we can
manage. I hope. So after today we´ll have pictures of the infamous
Machu Picchu! Woohoo!

As some of you know we´ll also be heading home soon for a bit. We´ll
be back in Chicago for the month of June and then gone again for
another month visiting friends and family in Europe - specifically for
Sarah Wild´s wedding but we´re tacking on some other fun excursions.
So after Machu Picchu we have to start booking it through the rest of
Peru we want to see before it´s time to head home! Lots to do!