Another Sunday Another Parade.

Saturday I woke up at 7am, barely knowing where I was. I was aching from the Intense days on the Inca Trail. I unpacked all my stuff onto one of the 4 beds in the room, handed in laundry, ate breakfast @ McDonalds and picked up my car. The old woman at the garage (open air, unleveled dirt ground mess) was happy for my Machu Picchu experience. The cute little girl there had fun playing with my binoculars. Then she started to cough horribly and tears rolled down her face. Sad.
I drove up to the ruins of Saqsaywaman, about 2km up the hill overlooking Cusco. Only 20 % of these immense ruins remains, as it was torn down by the Spaniards to build stuff in Cusco. It had religious and military significance, and the iconic Inca walls here are HUGE. The walls made by them zigzag in and out, as this fortress was the teeth of the jaguar (9th Inca Pachacutec invisioned Cusco in the shape of a Puma). There was a square structure with stone sections inside that held water. One could look in the pool and see the reflections of the stars. No Mom, I haven´t seen the Southern Cross yet, but I ask about it. It would have been amazing to see this structure in all it´s glory. But the Spanish destroyed too much of this town. *sigh*.
I left and came back to Cusco feeling really beat up. So I got lunch of good bisteak and the best mate (tea) I´ve had all trip then got an hour long massage! That helped a bit and I did the interweb thing. I was real tired but I went to Loki hostal bar to meet a couple people. One guy didn´t show, the other Polish dude said he was there for 10min and left. I did however see Dustin there (from the Lima bike ride to ruins). He said he stayed up all night on some Peruvian ya-yo and was going to get more. Oh, to be young and dumb again.
This morning, Sunday the 15th, Anna from Buffalo knocked on the door of my room at 8am. She had taken a night bus from Puno (Lake Titicaca area). She had a memory stick with her photos stolen. Bummer. But had pix from Colca Canyon where she trekked to the bottom of the 2nd deepest canyon in the world.
We walked into the Plaza De Armas and had breakfast on a 2nd story cafe, overlooking a big municipal ceremony and parade going on. I can hear a marching band as I type this. Well, my time is up now and I am going to a couple museums to get the most from my Boleto Touristico.