Here we are in Aguas Calientes, ¨Machu Picchu Pueblo¨, and the Machu Picchu is just a short sleep (very short; we are waking up at 4am) away.
Yesterday, in Jenny´s words, was ¨the best day of her life.¨ River rafting was amazing. We opted for the harder part of the river, because although we had never gone before and are neither of us very coordinated (or lucky, for that matter), we overheard the easier levels being recommended to seniors… so we would have none of that. Little did we know that after buckets of rain, the river was raging, and we were to make it up to a class 5 rapid.
An hour and a half drive out of Cuzco took us out in the middle of nowhere – just us, our fellow rafters, the towering Andes mountains, and the ruthless Urubamba river. We stripped down to our swimsuits and started to load on our wetsuits, waterjackets, helmets, and lifejackets (the helmets smelled like Adam after hockey, so although everyone else was a little put off, I felt right at home). :)
We got a safety lesson, grabbed our paddles, learned the commands, picked our teams, and loaded onto our rafts in the frigid-but-not-quite-BC-frigid water of the Urubamba river.
The rafting was thrilling, scary, and an amazing work-out all at the same time. We almost lost people about twice, and nearly flipped the raft once too. After two hours of adrenaline, we were on the home stretch – an easier arm of the river, but still pretty quick. One of the crazy Australians wanted to jump in, and the instructor said he could…. so we had to too (we had our Canadian reputations to think of). It was so cold!
When we got back on land, we pretty much ran to the little rock hut (hot sauna) to warm our blue fingers and toes.
Here we are in action!
And here is our team! (Jenny is second from the left, and I am far right)
Dinner was the second awesome experience yesterday. If you have been reading along, you already know that Jenny loves trying new (aka really weird) foods. She had been dying to try the Peruvian delicacy, ¨Cuy¨, since we landed. Cuy is Guinea Pig. Guinea Pigs are pets, not food, right? Wrong. It was on the menu last night, and since we were in a pretty trustworthy restaurant, she decided to order it. When it came, we both had to fight down giggles of astonishement (and maybe a little bit of puke too.) It looked like a fried, oversized rat, teeth and all, arms in the air. There were still little hairs on it´s claws. Ew! If you don´t believe me, check it out:
Believe it or not, we both tried some, and Jenny did a pretty good job of it. Our server informed us that people raise them in their homes, but they multiply like rabbits so they sell them for meat. I will never forget the look on Jenny´s face when it came. Ever.
We took an early train this morning, and are now here in Aguas Calientes, in the middle of nowhere, sipping cappuchinos above a raging river with the mountains above us. It feels sort of like a rainforest here – very mystical, very…. Inca. Except the town is ugly – it´s only purpose is for tourism, so we will be glad to get out of here and back to Cuzco.
Well, I think that´s it for now – I will report back after the highlight of our trip tomorrow – SO EXCITED!!!
-R
