16,140 ft Camp 2. Much has happened. I am way behind in writing, but I will attempt to catch up now. Thursday 23 May, 2002. we crashed into our beds at Hotel Corihuasi and awoke at 2:30 in the pm. Wearing glacier glasses and sitting on a bag of snow can make for difficult writing conditions. At sea level barometric pressure is at 32” of mercury, right now I am at 16” of m.
We arranged a trip to machu picchu with our aforementioned driver, and then we were off to see cusco. We staggered down to the Plaza de Armas in a daze of cameras and matching fleece jackets. Upon seeing us, we were immediately accosted to buy postcards etc. Nine postcards later we wandered into the Inka Grill and split a pizza. Joe drank inca cola I drank coca tea. We then made our way to an internet café, or cyber café, following signs painted in Rastafarian colors leading us to ‘the internet’. At $0.80 us/hour we didn’t spend much time there, and after making the necessary and obligatory emails and live journal updates, we stepped into the Plaza de Armas in all it’s night time glory. The postcard vendors had been replaced with people trying to lure into a bar. We found peanut butter and jelly in Gatos Market and made our way back to the hotel for an early night.
