from la Paz to the matchu pitchu

so I finished my last entry in la Paz, city we weren't too sad to leave. after all that writing we deserved a good meal and so went for a nice little cheap pizzeria we'd found on the way to the hotel : excellent pizza and clean bathroom althought still without any toilet paper :). Tired as we were after a good day of walking around La Paz ( and because backpacking is tiring anyways )we decided to head to the hotel to have a beer and play cards before going to bed. On the way there, Francois who'd been whiping his nose all day with paper hankies he'd stored in his pockets, decides to empty those and does so in a trashcan on the sidewalk. we get to the hotel after having bought 3 beers and Ho!, surprise, he can't find his keys ;). he rummages through his pockets and finally realises they'd been in the pocket with the hankerchiefs. so they gotta be in the trashbin. hoping the trashcan hadn't been emptied yet we headed back to the bin, armed with nothing but a flashlight and the will to find them. after some more rummaging -through the trashbin this time - and with my help as a flashlight holder, francois quickly recovered them keys and, at last, we got to play cards and go to sleep ( we were so dam tired the card playing part didn't even last 30 min). important remarq : the beer was offered to us by francois for all the trouble we'd undregone while already so tired - thanks dude.
next morning, we checked out the nice little place we were at and went for breakfast. the bus wasn't until 1500, and we didn't have anything to do until then and so took our time to break - fast correctly (continental or american breakfast depending on who ordered) and stayed there until 1300 or so. having to much time, we decided to walk to the bus station - which I after found a really bad idea for, at some point it gets mighty steep and with my 20kg backpak it's a real pain in the ass! ( we also spotted two dogs stucked into each other after doing something I won't name here - in case children are reading. it's irrelevant, but seeing those two dogs hopelessly stucked to each other, each trying to go it's own way, almost getting hit by every passing car had something surreal to it). after all that hard physical exercise up and down La Paz we finally got to the terminal where we were rewarded with a viewing of the spanish version of the starwars trilogy which we conciensciously watched since we had two hours to wait before our bus. The bus, which finally left at 1630 instead of 1530 was a first class bus we paind 18 USdollars for a 6 hours trip - I thought it was a all nigth trip and it's the only reason I had agreed to paid, but was then taken back to reality by my co-travellers and was astonished they'd agreed to pay such a price for such a short bus ride. On our way to puno, we watched bedazzeled - shit movie, and dubbed in spanish!- walked over the border where we were greated out of bolivia, asking us to come back soon, and into Peru, whishing us to stay for long and asking how much money we were planning on spending in the country - god knows why :)
We got to Puno at around 2300 bolivian time, but had gained an hour so it was only 2200 over there. we called a hotel, graciously ignoring all the taxi driver asking : - "hola amigo! Taxi?, tienes un hotel? tengo uno, Buen precio!" (this -the hasseling - hadn't happened neither in argentina nor in bolivia, but we quickly realised it was entirely part of the turistic part of peru - and can get really annoying at times). We then chose a taxi of our own liking who drove us to the hostel we had chosen and we quickly collapsed into bed knowing we'd have to wake up early the next day if we wanted to go on the titicaca lake and leave in the evening for Cusco.
The next morning we did wake up early and, skipping breakfast - which I hate to do - ran to the boat place to get ourselves one for the lake. by the time we got there, they were almost all gone or going and, having not much choice left we went for one who - pretty much - screwed us over asking one price, then another, and which we finally paid in USdollars, oficially getting screwed, but we were all in a bit of a rush. they took the money, went to get some gasoline and we were finally off to the URU island. they are impressive. they are all made of "roseau" (in french, in english, no clue, but it's an aquatic plant that's half in half out the water and sticks out straigth - kind of a water bamboo) and therefore float on the water. and people live on them. loads of people. every week they have to add a new layer of plant to replace the one that drowned and every ten years they gotta build a new island. no need to say they don't really have time to do anything else than pick up " roseau". they also make amazingly big boats with the plant. well, you've understood, it's impressive ( and it's mainly thanks to tourism that they can keep this way of life, funny ain't it, for one tourism is good for local communities).
we left the the floating island and headed for the real island (3 hours boat ride, I slept most of the way through and got sunburned on only one side of my face - not funny :). we got to the real island. funny fact: there ain't shite at the bottom of the island and you gotta walk all the way up a billion really steep stairs before you get to a restaurant ( and not having had breakfast in the morning, with the lack of oxigen and all the lungs destroyed by the ciggies, we were begging to be slayed by the time we made it to the top.) the restaurant was good but nothing fancy and then I had a coca-tea and read stiglitz while the others walked a bit around the island and took pictures. then back to Puno - we played cards under the amazed eyes of the local and a couple of germans. In Puno we went to book the bus for the evening for cusco and had dinner in a nice restaurant but which didn't really feed us enough so we were still a little hungry when we got out :)
the bus ride for cusco was one of the best so far - I slept all the way through and had a little kid beside my who didn't invade my space at all. we got there at 0400 but not wishing to wander the street of sleepy Cusco until an hotel opened, we stayed in the bus until 0630 - as the bus companies are obliged, by law, to let us do. We then took the taxi to "La Plaza armas" (as is called every main square in every city of peru) and found a hotel to our liking before going for a mighty big breakfast (in french the adjectif given by the guide is "guarguantuesque")and then touring the city to see what it had to offer.
Cusco is a really beautiful city and the main square is particularly interesting with all it's schiselled (is that the way you write it?) balcony's and it's two "grandiose" churches. The rest of the city centre is also very nice (and clean compared to the rest) and there are traces left of the inca's everywhere.
we also went to book the ticket to visit the machu pichu and other ruins which was a real pain for my wallet since the train ticket is 44 USdollars, the ruins ticket 10 euros, the ticket to matchu pichu 30 euros, the bus to get from aguas calientes to machu pichu 6 USdollars and a couple of little busses in between finished eating off my budget for 4 days :)
The rest of the day was spent playing cards on one of the only terrace of the city while drinking some beers and talking to local kids and foreign spanish woman. we then went to have another beer and engaged in warm discussion that lasted all the way through dinner. francois then went to sleep while arnaud and I accepted all the free drinks offered by the different clubs around the main square (mostly cuba libre) until it was time to go to back to the hostel - and luckily we managed to walk back :)
The next day, the head hurting a little and the stomach a little upsidedown, we walked to the (mini) bus station where we were rushed into a bus and, before we realised there wasn't any seating space and we would have to stand for an hour, we were driving with difficulty on the hills surrounding Cusco, taking along any person who wished to get on the bus and everytime we thought they couldn't possibly fit anymore poeple in it, another two or three stepped in. the roads being what they are, and the busses being what they are, we were nothing short of puking all over everybody else when we finally got to the first ruin site we had to visit. after 20 min spent going to the bathroom for diarrhea problems and to take a hold of oursleves, we stored the bags and decided to walk up to the ruins since the guide(our hated book) said it was only a 50 min walk. An hour and a half and a good lot of sweat (for, once again, it's steeeeeep!) after, we got to the beginning of the ruin site and it has a way of not making you regret to have walked for it - and in addition to that, you feel so much better than all those tourists who came with their bus and have little shorts and walking sticks as if they were gonna go up some real high mountain and do some intense physical exercise when all they do is walk from the bus and back :). we wandered in the ruins for another 1h30 and after visiting it all, we took the taxi back to town.by that time we thought :"damn man, the incas were good!" and we hadn't seen the machu picu yet!
down town we had a little lunch (with chicken claws in our soup, YUK!!) and saw our first rain since the beginning of the trip. we hopped in a bus for the second ruin site - which was also the place we had to take the train for aguas calientes - and got there around 1400. we stored our backpacks in a little cafe next to the train station and took a most unusual taxi to the ruins. it's a motorcycle with a trailer inwhich you can sit. I thought we were going to top over or fall off many times but it curiously never happened. the ruin site was as impressive as the first one though a lot less tiring to get to since it was at the same level as the village ( just a couple of hundred stairs to go up, nothing!) We visited, then bought some food -supplies for the machu pichu, had dinner and took the over-expensive train at 2000.
we arrived in Aguas Calientes at 2200 and rushed to find a hotel. Since there are no road and only the train to get to Aguas Calientes, everyone gets there at the same time, and since we hadn't booked anything (and we never do :) we were afraid we wouldn´t find a place to sleep for 2 nights. but we did, relatievely cheap and with private bathroom (a first during the trip! :)
we then thought it'd be a good idea to go buy the tickets from the tourism office but, two minutes before we got there it closed. at that time, we were planning on waking up at 0400 and walk all the way up the machu pichu to see the sun rise. we were a little lost and speaking french loudly when we heard a little french voice say: "si vous voulez des infos, j'habite ici moi!" (trsltion: if you want any info, I live here!)
the guy turned out to be french, to have a brother living in beauraing,the city where francois's family comes from and he told us what we needed to know in order to visit the machu pichu correctly : wake up at 0400 am, eat, buy the entrance ticket at 0500 when the thingy opened, buy a bus ticket to go up, take the bus at 0530 am and so get there first. we tchatted a little more, listened to his -peculiar - life story and noticed the setting up of the "couvre-feu" (I think in english it's smth like "cure-few") by the local cops before heading to bed quickly 'cause the next day was going to be a big day.
We did wake up at 0400, ate, bought the tickets, the other ticket and got on the bus at 0530. we weren't the first one on the site, but we certainly weren't over a hundred. when the gates opened we all rushed to the top of the hill and (since you can't see anything while going up) what we discovered once on top got everyone drawing out their cameras and taking millions of pictures. as a matter of fact, it is impressive, and in the dim light of the morning, it's almost religious (no wonder it was full of temples). I ain't even gonna try to describe those magical instant and I won't put pictures iether for I can't do it now (but will try later, promise!) but you really have to come and have a look for yourselves. WAWOOO!!
I lost the other two and wandered the ruins by myself, trying to catch the explanations of the various private guides around and so gathered quite a bit of info on that amazing inca city. we finally found each other and by 1100 we were outside having a well diserved lunch (tuna sandwish and sausages, yummy! :) after which we walked down hill for an hour and finally got back to aguas caliente around 1230. we were literally worn out. dead, on our knees. we took a nice and refreshing shower, and not knowing what to do with ourselves we went to the hot water springs from which the city got its name and lingered in the hot water for 1h30. we were a bit disapointed by the look of the girls and almost scared by te look of some local mamas but it was a good experience all in all, and very relaxing. it got us hungry too. so at 1500, on the way out from the springs, we went for three big pizza's (not really good, but cheap!) a couple of beers and a game of cards. an hour later, we were out on our way to bed and just stopped by an (overly expensive) internet cafe to check our mails (but I was in no mood to write this diary then). then bed....which felt good :)
this morning, we woke up at 0400 (AGAIN!! will you say, and I will agree!!) because the cheapest-but-still-extremely-expensive train back to Ollantaytambo for back packers leaves at 0545 but we had to be there by 0530 (eventhought it leaves late!)
and headed for the train -which akwardly doesn't leave from the train station but from some bizzare place outside of town and it ain't said anywhere.
we slept most of the way through and in ollantaytambo took the bus to the last of the 4 ruin sites we had to visit. out of the bus in chicheros. I went in the local cafe because my 2 days ticket had expired and I didn't wanna pay a new one for just one ruin site and the other two went to visit them - I didn't regret not buying the ticket, apparently it wasn't worth it and they only stayed 45 min (walk included). we then had a b-fast that looked like a lunch in the cafe and took a taxi back to cusco (25 min, slept all the way through:) In cusco, where I'm writing from now, we booked the ticket for arequipa tonight and we are gonna go have lunch for we are hungry again. then it will be chile, then back to ArG and B-A. don't know when I'll write again, but until then, C.U.