Cusco

We made it to Cusco at around 4 a.m. after an uncomfortable bus ride. Unfortunately, nobody told us we were at Cusco, so we sat on the bus for at least an hour outside the locked gates of the bus station. Eventually, we grew tired of this, determined we were in the right city, disembarked and stole our own bags off the bus to head to our hostal.
After a long nap, we spent a good portion of our first day here getting ourselves organized for the next few days.
The plan is this: tomorrow we´ll bus to a town called Urabamba, where there is a huge Inca fortress, then get back on a bus to Ollataytambo (or something) where there´s another major Inca site. At 5:45 the next morning we´ll catch the train to Aguas Calientes, last stop before Macchu Pichu. It should get us there around 7, and then we´ll bus up to the lost city. A lot of people do a four or five day hike to Macchu Pichu, but we´´ve fot another hike coming up, so we´re taking the easy route.
We´ll have most of the morning, or most of the day at Macchu Pichu, depending on whose information is right, and then train back to Cusco. That should be Sunday night.
At 6 A.M. Monday we´re getting picked up to begin our trek into Manu national park. The first day is a 12-hour bus ride to the edge of the park. It´s just the beginning of rainy season, so our guide William--who gave us a briefing the other night--said the road can get pretty mucky. We´ll be travelling in a convoy, so we shouldn´t get into any big trouble. Over the following four days we´ll go through cloud forest and rainforest, sail down some rivers in the Amazon basin, swing from vines like tarzan, bathe in hot springs and mud and see all kinds of birds, monkeys, caiman and so on. I have already opted myself out of the night walk to see tarantulas ¨the size of your hand.¨
I´m going to live in denial of their existence the rest of the time. William said the cloud forest will be in the mid 30s celsius and the rainforest could get into the 40s.
All things being equal we will return to civilization on the 22, though he cautioned there are times the road is impassable and it´s necessary to spend a night on the bus. Oh, as it turns out, there´s no sleeping in tents involved in the jungle. I am happy about this.
So, unless we´re back early on Sunday, we may be incommunicado until we´re out of the jungle. Think happy non-tarantula thoughts for me.

Today we did an 8 km hike through four significant Inca sites near Cusco, including the large Saqsaywaman just above town. It was a fun day and we enjoyed spending it with a friendly German couple staying in the same hostal.

Early to bed tonight to get ready for the busy week ahead.