Paula and I flew from sea level to over 3300 m in Cuzco.

We had been well informed of the terrors of altidude sickness, not the least from Teresas own experience of 8h of throbbing headake and vomitting! Therefore we went straight to our hotel the first thing we did in Cuzco in order to aclimatize to the low pressure and lack of oxygen. Even walking the 15 steps down and back up again to get toilet paper, was enough to give us a feeling of being 90 years old! Thus, we took all warnings very seriously and layed completely still in our beds for 6 h until we couldn't stand the starvation anylonger.

Slowly, slowly - as two 90 year old ladies - we walked down the street to get something light to eat, alhtough you're not even supposed to eat in order to avoid altitude sickness! The next day we were aclimitized and took the train from Cuzco DOWN to MachuPicchu (2800m). 15 km before arriving in MP we got off the train and walked the rest. This is called the Inka trail, and is supposed to be very fantastic.

It rained. And rained and rained and rained during all 5 h it took to climb the wobbling stairs of the Inkas. We decided to do as every indian, chew coca leaves! It is supposed to reduce hunger, thirst, and tiredness. To me it seems like a cup of coffee and a coca cola has more of an effect but at least we managed to walk in 5 hours a distance that is supposed to take two days!

The only direction from the rail road at river level (rl.), to MachuPicchu at 1000 m above rl. is UP... But when we finally reached Machu Picchu, the view was great: Machu Picchu was completely covered in clouds!

However, at that point we couldn't care less about that classic photograph but only thought of how to get dry again... Everything we had on or with us was completely soaking wet.

In the village (Aguas Calientes) below MachuPicchu Paula went hunting for dry clothes and shoes... and came up with a new endogenous indian trendy style: Cuzcenyan! Also I adopted the indian trend and went barefoot to the restaurant while my shoes were in the laundry service being dried with the rest of our outfits! The next day was a dry day - at least until 2 pm - and we got a close look at the ruins and some RMBP (ReQueTeMegaBeautifulPictures), for example Paula sleeping beside a llama in the middle of Machu Picchu!

I got someone to repeat the "Tina in Machu Picchu"-picture that my dad took nearly 30 years ago... Only now I cover much more of the background view of MachuPicchu... Only one sad thing: our cameras got stolen. It's true, both Paula's and mine. However, the thieves were kind enough to rewind the films and give them back to us before they set off... Unfortunately I lost the digital photos so you will have to wait for a while - a week or two - until the normal pictures are developed and scanned (please send reminders to Paula and Peter). Other than that I saw the police station in Cuzco, the bank and the inside of the toilets (diahrrea).

Added Jan 24

No pictures since the camera got stolen...

Tina hopse to solve this problem by getting a new camera in Panama... Until then, well, look at the old pix. Or use your imagination.