Viracocha's Revenge & Our Near Abduction (and not by aliens), Peru - 4
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Commerce House |




For us, instead of riding the train all the way to AC, we got off at the Kilometer 104 stop. This is a hiker drop-off. We crossed a quintessential rope (and moss covered cable) wood plank bridge and visited part of the commerce trade route with habitat ruins, a nearly intact stone house. The beam and thatched roofing has been long since swallowed by the rainforest. In fact, much of the type of wood the Incas would have used to beam the house have been highly marginalized due to the Australian invasion of eucalyptus trees.
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"Gringo Killer" |




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Paddington "mama" bear |
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Largest Gravestone in the World! |


The rest of the day was a descent from MP, by bus to our Hotel El Mapi. We stayed out of the MP reserve area until our tour the next day.
El Mapi was a nice 4-star hotel and spa. I schedule a massage for the next morning knowing I was in for more steps. We ate at the restaurant, but I found the staff a bit unapproachable and set in their conduct. Perhaps this attitude has been developed due to the high tourist respect (or lacking respect thereof).
We decided to delay our MP tour by a few hours the next day, to allow time to sleep, recover and get my massage. Unfortunately, two of us got sick from the dinner. I made it through the massage, (by a six fingered masseuse, no less, or should I say 11?), emerged to see my husband waiting for me and quickly told him I needed to throw-up. We had requested a late check-out, and thank Pachamama, because porcelain was my new Inti. We'll just call it Viracocha's revenge.



So, for details on MP, I guess you will have to just come and see it for yourself. What did impress me was how intact the walls were, especially the stone gables. This area was primarily a spiritual and educational gathering center; a college town, so to speak. Most the educators and astronomers were woman, the culture was very egalitarian. The site was abandoned at the same time as the Conquistador Invasion, but the Spanish never found it. This was an intentional plan by the Incan to protect their holy place. The cechuan language spoken by the Incas was not a written language, no record of MP existed, not until the 1800s when it was rediscovered by an American explorer. A young local boy showed Hiram Bingham the site, as the local farmers were in harvest season and could not take the time to guide him. It was found empty of gold idols but virtually untouched except by the fingerprints of the jungle.

Despite my condition, I was able to see the Temple of the Condor. Designed in such a way, it was a huge natural stone that, if you squint, looks like a bird in flight, the Incans then incorporated stacked stone and carvings to give the impression of a flying bird of prey. It's head was a carved sacrificial alter with channels to direct the blood to the carved beak.

The condor was the last stop in the park, we returned to town, found some dinner with our guide and awaited our return train to “Ollyabama”. John asked our guide which preparation was best to eat guinea pig. Roasted. It arrived, with head and feet still intact. Thankfully, I had nothing in my stomach. I couldn’t look at it or smell it without my stomach revolting. John says it reminded him of duck but was difficult to eat and not very much meat. They did make me steamed water with fresh slices of ginger. I was also able to get some heritage bread into my stomach. After our midday meal our guide departed and we boarded our train

The train ride back was more interesting then arrival. They offered on-board entertainment. A monkey masked dancer with bright native clothing and long, witchy hair. He spiritedly gamboled down the aisle, known as the Virgin del Carmen. And then the other attendants gave a fashion show of real baby alpaca wool. Then, of course, the clothes were for sale.
We arrived around 7:30pm and looked for our new transporter. The ride that should have been waiting for us with a little grease board stating “Wood” was nowhere to be seen. We still had to get to our hotel in Cusco, 1.5 hours away. Our main luggage was in Cusco and all transportation, hotels, and tickets were paid in advance through the travel agency.


We were tired but our guard was up, we had been warned to only go with our designated driver as others will try to misguide you, steal your luggage and leave you stranded.
You can imagine, with two lovely prime teenaged girls, we were on edge. We called the travel company, they told us one story, “they will find you, stay put.” No one. We called again “they are caught in traffic” (hmm...this is a small village, I could have walked to us in this amount of time). Finally, a women arrived with her young daughter in-tow. She had the paperwork to authenticate who she was, but she was without the driver. She left to locate him. Then a driver approached, and he had “Wood” on his phone and was saying all the right things...so we followed.

What finally tipped us off that he was a fake was he slipped some sols (dollars) to a ragamuffin street vendor. I stopped in my tracks and called to John. The authenticated agent, still with daughter, caught-up to us and told the other guy, in not so kind terms, to bugger off. Apparently, his plan was to take us to Cusco and demand payment at the end. He had overheard a conversation with the agent and faked a text.

We were still wary, it seemed odd the daughter was in-tow with a professional travel agent, but it was late at night and I know I have had to take a sick child to work before, especially if something unexpected happened. But, I was still dubious. We went in the other van. John tracked the map on his phone with one hand and had his pocket knife (luggage packed) in the other. Thankfully, we were taken to our proper hotel; which serendipitously, happened to have a party of Cusco Doctors-by-day, and Whiskey-Drinking-Club-by-weekend gathering at the hotel bar. John joined in and decompressed. I went to bed with activated charcoal in my stomach (it had been packed in our big luggage).
Click HERE to see more photos of the flowers on the The Incan Trail.