Hey Sacsayhuaman. How you doin.

So, we arrived in Cusco. The seat of the Incan empire. Home to the sacred valley, the gateway to machu pichu, ancient incan temples, slighly newer spanish cathedrals, and more annoying touts and vendors than i believe is neccesary. but no on listens to me.
i think on the first day we just walked around and looked at stuff, in general. it was a bit of a mess trying to sort out how we were getting to machu pichu. the train was shut due to rock slides so we had some serious option assessment to do. and since we couldnt gt much of a straight answer from anybody, it only made things more confusing. what an adventure! so, we walked tound, relaxed, and then cooked dinner.
day 2 - we bought the tourist museum entrance ticket after a bit of an argument with the ticket sellers because they wouldnt believe we were students. the nerve! but once we got that sorted out, we promptly realized that the cool museums were not actually included on the ticket. but no worries. apparently, in cusco, the they built a cathedral and then about 20 years later decided it wasnt good enough so they built one next to it. and then that one was outdated so they built another one. then, lets say, 100 years on, the city grew so they built one across the square, and while in the middle of that one, they decided maybe one more even bigger would just add a certain churchy appeal. and then, once they finished those, apparently they decided lets turn them all into museums and build another one to use, and then a few in the surrounding blocks just to confuse tourists and make them buy tickets for what they think will allow them in. hahahaha. silly tourists. (but im not bitter) so we got cultured.
and the next day, with 2 new austrlian friends we set off into the hills behind cuzco to see the sacred valled and the surrouding incan ruins. starting at tambo machay (so-so) then puca pucara (slightly more so-so) then we walked a few kilometers to Qenko which was cool. it was used to sacrifice stuff (possibly virgons or llamas or something) and the tunnels and caves and altars carved into the rocks are worth a look. and then on to Sacsayhuaman, also pronounced sexy woman, though i prefer sexy human (its more PC). oll call it SH for short. SH is HUGE. YUGE! it was shaped to look like a jaguar head from above. big amphitheter, long tunnels, long polished rocks for sliding (clearly the incas intention), and massive massive walls. blockas of stone 4x my height all fitting together perfectly. no glue. no duct tape. no cement. really cool. SH is prob one of the coolest incan ruins ive seen, short of Pisac and big pichu. (more on from erica)
then, we continud the walk down the hill and to the hostal.
day 3 - a first for a while, we ventured off to find a market in pisac and see the ruins of the same name. the market was generally succesful as i did not spend a lot of money. the ruins of pisac are 4 sites spread across a mountain. they are all incredible just in the fact that they could be built up on the moutian and built so well. houses, temples, wells, water channels, terraces, fortresess. i went off for a wander nd somehow ended up ontop of one set of ruins at the mountain peak. (as you do) erica and amy had staid to the path, a logical and hypothetically better choice. i meandered at the top for a bit finding old walls carved steps and other ruiny things. finding a trail, i follow it down and reach a set of steps carved into the side of the mountain going to what looks like a sheer cliff. not being able to leave well enough alone, i inch my down to have a peak. at the 2nd form the bottom step, a mear meter from the big drop, on my left opens up a tunnel. SO COOL! they carved steps into the side of the mountain and then dug out a 30 meter tunnel descending through the mountain to the other side of the ridge and not 100 meters from where amy and erica were patiently waiting for me to stop fooling around. a tunnel! it was really cool. you think your going for a cliff and it just appears out of nowhere. and it was doubly cool because i doubt anyone (tourists) know its there. its well hidden. so, i went on about that for a while. we saw some more stuff, and then we went back to the hostal.
and the excitment has yet to begin. next on the list, bus to train to bus to machu pichu.