Neron’s 15 minutos of fame.

This was the funniest thing I saw in Peru — even better than when the woman fell down the stairs in the bus and knocked herself out by falling into the bathroom and hitting her head on the toilet.

You knew this caption was coming, right?

I wouldn’t have made a good Inca.

The terracing was pretty impressive at all of the Incan ruins. And yes, I didn’t know what terracing was until the Kates told me.

We met up with Kate’s friend Kate (heretofore referred to as Other Kate) in Cuzco. After spending a day or so bumming around the markets and letting Other Kate introduce us to various Peruvian street food (no stomach problems yet!) we began our journey to Machu Picchu. Whereas most of our previous travel had been almost exclusively on “Royal Class” gringo buses, getting to Machu Picchu required a variety of transport. Suffice it to say that we became much more intimately acquainted with the Peruvian people.

We’d seen several Inca ruins on our trip previously, but Machu Picchu was in a completely different ballpark. The most notable characteristic is its size — even though it’s probably the biggest tourist attraction in the Americas, it was still fairly easy to find completely empty sections of the ruins.

We spent a full day exploring the ruins, hiking various nearby paths, etc. However, that wasn’t enough walking for some of us. So, we decided to walk back from Machu Picchu to our hotel instead of taking the bus. It was a nice night, and we could spend the 20 soles ($6) bus fare on dinner.

An hour and a half (and several rolled ankles) later, we decided that walking another several miles in the dark wasn’t such a good idea. And so begins the story of my first hitchhiking experience… Luckily, there isn’t too much to tell. Kate flagged down a truck, we rode in the bed for a few miles, arrived in town safely, and ate a mildly satisfying dinner at a tourist trap.

In any case, we made it back to Cuzco in one piece, ate more street food today, and are flying to Lima early tomorrow morning. After one more night in Lima, we’re taking a redeye back home to the USA (pronounced ooh-sa in Peru, btw).

That’s it for today. Enjoy the pictures (and in some cases, captions).

I realized that I didn’t post any street photos yet — this picture from Puno is a good example of the general chaos.