Ready, set: ruins!

I finished my classes on Friday and am now truly feeling the freedom from my job and school, and I love it! Its great having Andy here to have adventures with (and translate for)...We feel very much in the swing of things here in Cusco so this weekend we set out to explore slightly further afield and see some of the impressive Incan ruins in the area.

Saturday we ventured to the ruins at Saqsawayman, which the gingos remember for the mnenomic "sexy woman" and which overlooks Cusco. Envisioned in the shape of a puma, the ruins include three rows of huge zigzag"teeth". Opposite are weird smooth rock formations that are not ony interesting for their historical significance,but make really incredible slides too! (Yes, that´s me above, about to smash my ankles because I have adrenaline issues.) The views of Cusco were amazing. We both keep pinching ourselves that we are really here, and I keep patting myself on the back that I can even remotely hold conversations with the locals.

Sunday started in a surreal fashion. As we sat bleary-eyed at breakfast, our extremely gregarious host, Eddie, started telling us about how the hostel dog, Fritz, can sing. Before we knew it, out of nowhere Eddie had switched on a karaoke machine in the corner of the room and began crooning away....and sure enough, Fritz joined in. I mean you really can´t make this stuff up. All we could do was stare at each other across the table in sheer wonder, thinking of our friend Kenenth :)

Later we hopped a local bus to Pisac to peruse the Sunday markets and see the VERY huge and amazing Incan ruins that cling precariously to the mountainsides that tower over the village. The hike through the ruins and back to town was truly spectacular, it felt like being in a Lord of the Rings film or something. The path takes you through various ruins, along precarious stairways dug out of the cliff faces, through tunnels and finally down into the valley. I´m not sure my hamstrings will be the same tomorrow, but it was worth it!

If we survive tomorrow morning´s karaoke session with Eddie, we are planning to head into the Valle Sagrada (Sacred Valley) to make our way to the holy grail of Peru. Stay tuned.