WARNING: Content not suitable for children or the faint of heart!

Alternatively: "The things you'll find when you're not looking for anything in particular."

Ha! I bet you weren't expecting that.

        As I sat down to write this post I pondered: "Could I do an entire entry completely about a single nude photo of myself at 3650 meters above sea-level?". The answer, luckily for you all, is no. Unfortunately for me, that meant I actually had to think of something interesting to write about. Butt But, now that you've seen me standing in my birthday suit on top of a mountain you're kind of roping into reading the rest of this post to get the full context.

        The last few days I've split my time fairly evenly between city and country, but even in the city I am constantly surrounded by the imposing mountains of Cusco. Their peaks seem to watch over the city was a perfect vigilance. Ocassion menacingly as they send a thick haze of clouds fearfully skirting around their summits. At other times they peacefully observe the goingabouts of the humans in their domain, casting friendly shadows on their subjects below. It's easy to see why a culture might revere, and fear, these mountains as gods. 

The Quechua term for a mountain god is "Apu".

        The mountains have a way of hiding beauty just out of plain site. If you explore any mountain in this area long enough you're bound to stumble across the remains of an ancient civilization or perhaps the current inhabitations of their decedents.

        The things that have brought me the most joy during my travels so far have been the unexpected events. The events that come out of the blue and require a several page back-story to explain how you managed to get yourself into that position. One of the most entertaining of these unexpected and unplanned encounters of the past few days was exploring the Inca ruins of Tipón.

        Before I began the tiring four kilometer hike up the steep dirt road which lead to the ruins of Tipón I needed something to fill my stomach. Something typical of the area and something hearty. Something I could eat to bring out my inner savage for the climb ahead.

Guinea Pig.

Does this really need a caption?

I was led to this backyard Cuyeria by a local who swore up and down that this... restaurant?... served the finest dish of furry little friends this side of the Andes.

        I'm not exactly sure how to judge the quality of one guinea pig against another, but overall I found this Peruvian delicacy to be okay. As you might imagine there isn't much meat on your average cuy. I'm happy to have tried this local dish, but I think I'll pass next time. However, it doesn't get much more authentic than this: following a recommendation of a local taxi-cab driver and being served guinea pig on what appeared to be someone's back lawn in the rural village of Tipón.

        With my stomach (kind of) full I had the energy to successfully complete the climb up to the Inca ruins.

The site is still in great condition.

        These Inca ruins show another facet of Inca engineering: their domination of the uncompassionate and treacherous topography that is typical of the Andean highlands. This set of ruins featured an impressive network of agricultural terracing and Inca fountains.

A set of Inca fountains.

        It appeared that the somewhat laborious hike to the ruins must have deterred the usual sea of camera wielding voyagers as I had the site almost completely to myself. I took my sweet time marveling at the ingenuity of the Incas who's fountains still channel water gracefully today.

        Feeling the familiar tingle of adventure and having nowhere in particular to be I found an old aqueduct heading upwards from the ruins and decided to follow it to its source.

Clearly the road less traveled.

        In the end the source of the dried up aqueduct was not the crystalline lake that I imagined or hoped for, but I felt a great sense of joy at having reached the top roughly 3650 meters above sea-level. Something about simply exploring an old set of Inca ruins and following my impulses gave me a fantastic feeling of achievement. I was the only person for miles in any direction and only the sound of the wind gently rustling the hearty mountain shrubs and the occasional birdsong broke the silence of the mountains.

Damn, one meter short.

        The place high in the Andean mountains, all but forgotten, was far more fascinating than listening to any listless tour guide ramble on about the importance of some particular museum. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my fair share of museums, but this experience was something completely out of the ordinary. I was looking for nothing in particular and I found something unexpectedly unique.

        It was so beautiful I did what any rational human being would have done in that situation. I stripped naked and took a few photos.

        If there's any lesson to take away from this post it's that the true joy I find in traveling comes from personal exploration. And that there's nothing quite as nice as a cool mountain breeze blowing over your.. um... never mind.

        Now that, my friends, is my kind of adventure.