The new seven wonders

Macchu Picchu is now one of the enw seven wonders of the world. There was a world wide vote and it won, on the day I was there. Kind if interesting. There were a couple of camera crews there, but not many. There was, however, a massive party down in teh town of Aguas Calientes with dancing and music and balloons.

I discovered that there are a lot ofthings the guide books don´t tell you.
1. you need to pay for everything in dollars --train, etrnace fee, bus ticket
2. they don´t give you any hint as far as how to find the path up to the ruins
3. they don´t tell you that you have to buy your ticket from teh office in aguas calientes and that the entrance gate doesn´t sell them

As a result, I just barely made th bus, ince I had to run around like a madwoman five minutes before it left trying to figure out where to buy my ticket to get in. I made it, though, and at 5:30 am I was deposted with about 400 other tourists at teh entrance gate, where I had to wait 20 minutes in line. They tell you no food or disposable water bottles alowed but they don´t actualyl check your bag unless it is exceptionally large. Fortunately I was wearing my many etra layers of clothing and my bag wasn´t too big so I got to sneak in my bread and oranges.

The ruins are amazing. I hiked up Huaynu Picchu, the big mountain in teh back (terrifyingly steep--if you look at a picture it´s the left hand side, switchbacks, and there´s nothing in between you and the thousand foot drop to the bottom of the mountain. There are a lot of walks and climbs like that there--the incas had no fear of heights. their stairs are just random stones set into the sides of buildings, stone walls, etc. sometimes tey go up five feet, sometimes 20 or 30. I could definitely not have survived in their culture. I couldn´t even make it out to the Puente Inca...although considering it´s a bridge spanning a massive 1000 (at least, maybe more) foot drop, I guess that makes sense.

At the moment there are not only teachers strikes but a massive transportation strike. I can´t get out of the village here. It´s kind of annoying but kind of interesting. Earlier all the shopkeepers were on strike too so I couldn´t even buy any water. I did finally find on tahtt was open to buy some laundry detergent. I´getting good at the bucket and washboard method. It´s kind of fun.