"The only way of catching a train I have ever discovered is by missing the train before." (G. K. Chesterton) (Entry 24, Day 10)

Monday, 3 June, 2013; 3:01 PM; a rock, campsite

Well, I arrived about half an hour early, which I was not expecting.  It's raining a little bit, and I keep getting the feeling I'm in the wrong campground.  But I recognize some of the porters and there are the right number of tents and that is our touring company's logo on their jackets.  There are other groups on the trail, which is why I was sort of nervous about it.  I also arrived alone, which is also why I was nervous.  Miguel is letting us take our own paces today, mostly, so that puts me on my own for the tail end of hikes.  Mark and Maggie are usually behind me at the beginning (I'm usually first), but they tend to overtake me by about a shouting distance by the end.  I try to stay within shouting distance, at any rate.  I think I was a bit behind that this afternoon.  Either way, we're still way ahead of the rest of the group - they're supposed to arrive at around 3:45.

There's a few history points that I may have missed yesterday.

First, black means purity to the Inkas - like white does in Western culture.  Llamas are the goats of the Inkas - some cultures sacrificed goats, the Inka sacrificed black llamas.

(few minutes later - had to move into tent/ get washing water/ pee) (they gave us warm water to wash our faces and stuff!  Again, LUXURY CAMPING!)

Sorry about the lapse - events involving warm water, tents, and urination just occurred.  Ellen and Kimbob just arrived.

Anyway, the Inka sacrificed the hearts to Inka.  Yeah.

Secondly, there are three different roads around the mountains from Machu Picchu to Cusco - the low road, by the river, was for traders and commoners and farmers and people like that.  It was mostly used by these sorts of people because they had livestock and it's easier to water them.  The middle road was kind of higher on the mountain.  It was for nobility and priests.  Since the Inka had a lot of weather divinities (and were just generally a religious sort of culture), they wanted to be close to the gods.  The third road was on the very top of the mountains, and it was used by the army to move really quickly and have a consistently good vantage point.  As I learned today, it's possible to see people in the valley from way up - they all look like vaguely colored specks of movement, but if you have an army in the valley you can't really miss it.

Also, we went up so far in altitude today that I popped my ears twice.

Right, other people are here, including (aka) the rest of our group.  Will write later.