Up, up...wait, I can't breathe.........

We went to our first ruins today...I think this is where Home Depot got it's start!  But first we had to figure out how to get there...a place called Tipon....should have been called Tipover because it's way up there in the clouds, at 13,000 ft!  Anyway,Talya found us a car and driver, and this little beauty is our driver's niece!

She is just learning how to walk...what a little cutie!  Her Uncle Jorge took us up to Tipon...the signs said 13,000 but climbing to the top, I swear the manned space station was below us!  This was an agricultural testing site for the Incas...

...you can see the scale...that's Casstonto way over there on the left.  They had it fully irrigated by diverting water off the mountain and it just appears pouring out of walls like a faucet!  This place is big...

 ...this is the view from the top...

...the terraces are off to the left, and below.  There were buildings all over the place...

  Here are a couple of Casstonto the explorer!

All that is left of this is the foundation...

...still, pretty impressive!!  The last photo is an attempt to show you how rugged the terrain is here.

I don't know what the hell we are doing tomorrow...maybe looking for oxygen tanks for the next f'n hike!!!

A lazy day, then the mercado...

Talya's garden is a constant source of entertainment...first it was flowers, then bees, now, a hummingbird!

Talya wants me to chase this little f'er all over the place...it's like trying to chase a flying saucer!  The bees don't move quite that fast...

...and the flowers hardly move at all!

I had to get out so I didn't have to chase that f'n bird around the yard, so we went back to the mercado.  We (Casstonto) decided to look around the mercado area...we are in the suburbs of Cusco...

...and the surrounding mountains look like this...only in colour...

...we are so high up that the sky can be quite dark blue at times.  Cusco has many squares, the town kind...everyone else is very cool!  There was a town square in front of this rather plain looking church...

...and typically, it was very ornate inside...

...up front some kid was having his Bar Mitzvah or something...I don't think it was a bris...who knows.  On to the mercado...

The mercado is endlessly interesting......................did you know cocaine leaves are legal in Peru?  Gawd help me!

Pigeons hate Catholics!

You're probably wondering why I would say that, and I'll get to it somewhere in the middle of this little diatribe.  We got up this morning, which is good otherwise this blog would be blank.  Casstonto and Talya want me to take a photo of the local hummingbird, but that little bugger has warp capabilities I tell ya!  That thing jets around faster than sex when you're 15!  The closest I got was this...

 Ya, I know that's not a damned hummingbird...it was already in Florida for crap sake!  Anyway, we decided to go into the centre of Cusco where some of the old Catholic churches are.  They charge to go into the churches here, so attendance is really low.  There is a statue of a woman standing outside the church and the pigeons just crapped all over her...

That pic doesn't really tell the story...look at this...

Gives a whole new meaning to HOLY CRAP!...that is disgustin'!!!  Anyway, those Spaniards are some tough cookies...they killed most everything they saw...in the pigeon poop at the feet of the poop lady are the heads of the Inca kids they chopped up...bloody hell!  That's not all...this guy they crucified..................NEVER EVEN GAVE HIM A CROSS!!!

This is one of the Inca Chieftans that got away...

He later went on to play with KISS...I have all the inside info!  I saw this guy, and I thought that's me in 200 years...

One of the official photographers of the Inca killing churches...even kind of looks like me don'tcha think?  Here's what it looks like around those churches...

 This was from an entrance of a church...we never paid to go in because they wouldn't let me take photos...that tells me it was probably just a used car lot!

Then we saw Black Pedro, leader of the local Hells Dingles...they aren't a full patch club yet...

He is a giant of a man, and rides a chopped, very tricked out minibike....SMOKIN"!  A couple other folks hangin' around...

...and part of the church...

Tomorrow, back to the mercado!

Mercado...has 70 different kinds of potatoes

We got up this morning feeling better, but not great...some would say even dozier than I normally am, if that is possible!  I was downstairs trying to drink tea using my ear when I noticed this little blue flower on the window sill...

...you can't see it in this photo, but it's around the corner from Talya's living room...

...check out the staircase!  Sucks to be us!!!  We decided over oatmeal to go to the local mercado...you will be seeing lots of photos from this place...target rich environment.  Here are some of the vendors...

 Once word got out of who I am, all the ladies wanted to have sex with me, even some of the men...but I said no...Casstonto is the only girl for me!  There was the usual weeping and wailing, 2 suicides, and 3247 thank God's...pretty standard stuff.  The police made us go home at that point...something about a "thank God" petition making me promise to never come back, but I know they didn't mean it!  There were only 2798 signatures...far from unanimous!  Anyway, we got back home and there was a lovely lily stuck in the gate...an adoring fan, I suppose.

Tomorrow we go downtown...I hope the fan club has crowd control...

23 hours of Air Canada...

The Air Canada slogan is "We aren't happy unless YOU are unhappy!"  They live up to the slogan...Casstonto's seat didn't recline, no plug for the computer, no usb, and a really crappy screen to watch old movies on...other than that, it was fine!  We got up at 5am for an 8am flight...AC changed our seats without telling us...DON'T  THEY  F'N KNOW WHO I AM?  Anyway, we got to Toronto without puking...well, hardly puking.  This little guy was making faces at me, and I made faces right back at him...

That's when his father told him who he was messin' with...

Then we got on another AC flight to Lima, arriving at 2am...then, without missing a stride, got on a 5am flight to Cusco...we were a little wonky, and butt weary, but in PERU!!!  Casstonto's childhood friend has invited us to stay in her magnificent house for a month!

Got this shot in her garden after a too short nap...

...and this is what I saw from her rooftop patio...

We got some 'esplorin to do tomorrow...stay tuned.