Machu Picchu

At 2 a.m., Craig woke me up and asked if it was really hot in the room. I replied that it wasn't, and he instantly knew he was going to be sick. He ran into the bathroom and vomited. He came back to bed feeling much better, but one hour later, the same thing happened. And it continued to happen, like clockwork, every hour on the hour. Was it that pizza? It would figure that after all we ate on this trip, the pizza wouldn't agree with him! Craig tried to take a shower at 3 a.m., but only our hot water was working (what do you expect in a town called Aguas Calientes, I guess) and it was too scalding to take a shower. We were supposed to meet Vidal at 6 for breakfast, and then take the 6:30 bus up to Machu Picchu. We were planning to see sunrise near the Temple of the Sun and then hike Huayna Picchu to get gorgeous view of Machu Picchu. By this time Craig was still getting sick, so there was no way we could go. I met Vidal downstairs and told him the situation. He was very nice and told me not to worry, and sent me back to the room. A few minutes later the proprietor appeared with room service breakfast for me. That was so nice! After Craig's 6:45 bout of sickness we gave him some antibiotics, hoping he'd at least have an hour before getting sick again so they could start to take effect. Vidal came at 7:20 with a thermos of tea and some medication specifically for vomiting. Our shower still only had hot water, so they moved Vidal to a different room and let us use his shower. Craig then went back to bed. At 8:45 Vidal came to check on Craig. At around 10:30, Craig had gone almost four hours without being sick. He got up and we went to the bus station. He felt very weak, but was a very good sport.

We got to Machu Picchu and resumed our tour, walking through a royal house. After climbing some of the steps Craig found he had no energy. Vidal was a total sweetheart and made two trips to the store for Gatorade. Craig drank the Gatorade and started to rehydrate, but he still had no energy. At 1:30, he urged Vidal and I to finish the tour on our own. We found a nice bench overlooking the valley, and he sat there while we continued on. It started sprinkling, just enough that a rainbow appeared above the valley. Vidal and I saw a room that was used for skull trepanation surgery. There were some small houses used by dwarves, and a storehouse for llama food which was built in such a way that llamas could not get around the sharp corner. We saw a hummingbird and a lizard. We saw the Temple of the Sun (which has one window facing the summer solstice and one facing the winter). We also saw the royal tombs. At 2:45 we picked up Craig and boarded a bus. Our chasquis looked especially tired today. At 4:00, we caught a train to Ollantaytambo. In the market near the train station I bought a yellow Inca Kola shirt for 12 soles. On the train we sat across from Deano (a British trance d.j.) and a guy from Chile. We had very interesting conversations with them for the entire ride. Carlos picked us and Vidal up in Ollantaytambo. After a stop at the Ollantaytambo hotel to use their restroom, we drove to Cusco. We checked into the hotel and collected the luggage that we had stored there. I dropped Craig in the room. The rooms here were great; they had little doors within a door so you could open it and have a view of the entire Plaza de Armas. Vidal and I went to the drugstore and bought Craig an Electrolight drink. Then we went to a restaurant to get Craig some take-out chicken soup. I ordered a Hawaiian sandwich (four slices of bread, ham, cheese, and pineapple, all toasted). Vidal and I drank Fantas while waiting for the food. We chatted and I tried the sapo game. When the food arrived, Vidal walked me back to the hotel. Craig and I ate in the room and went to bed. Vidal was so helpful during Craig's illness...we really appreciated it!