June 21st - Machu Picchu

Today we returned to Machu Picchu to see more of the ruins and do extra hiking.  The weather was dry and the sky was clear!  

Joyce and I headed up Machu Picchu Mountain.  It was a two hour uphill hike and we made it 3/4 of the way up.  The pointy peak in the top right photo was our goal!

During our descent, we heard a rustling just off to the right in the cloud forest...too loud to be a bird.

It was a big animal, we were thinking it was the rare spectacled bear.  So we crouched down low and approached cautiously, binoculars at the ready.  Well, it was a spectacle alright!  We heard pfbbbbbft...

And saw a man squatting in the woods suffering from Atahuala's Revenge.  Hee-hee!  We slunk off in a hurry to give him his privacy! (Sorry, no pics of this!)

Now we are traveling by train and bus to Cusco.  The train tracks are under repair due to a landslide!