WhiteWater Rafting and Pisac

So not this past weekend, but the weekend before...

Saturday:
Me and some friends decided to go whitewater rafting and had a blast! After driving through the country side surrounding Cusco we arrived at the camp which had lockers, hot showers, and a sauna (can you say spoiled?). We rafted class 3-4.5 rapids with this crazy guide who would purposely take us through the wildest parts of the rapids. We were also with a bunch of fun guys from Oklahoma who insisted on chattering and singing the the majority of time, which would explain the ride. While on the calm parts of the river we had a great view of the mountains and countryside. That didn't last long as we found those class 4.5 rapids! At one point me and the guy behind me actually fell out of the raft! I was completely calm and collected while the other guy completely freaked out. The part of the river after we flew out was probably the calmest part of the river and we were never in any real danger. Later on, when we were almost done our guide asked us if we could see the baby fish in the water. Naturally gullible as gringos can be we all looked but the poor guy who fell out of the raft earlier got pushed out of the raft by the guide! The guy took it in stride and before we knew it we were in the sauna warming up (that water was COLD!).

Unfortunately, I was so tired that I left my debit card and some money in the taxi on the way home! So I was stuck without money for a while...

Sunday:
So I bought this tourist ticket to see a bunch of local sights and ruins and I had until that day to use it. Me and two friends went off to Pisac to check out the market (which I then had no money for) and see the ruins. The market was not exciting as I wasn't in the mood to shop with no money. We then decided to climb to the ruins after lunch. So we climbed, and we climbed, we got on the wrong path and had to reclimb part of the mountain. For some reason we didn't realize that 1) we started on the backside of the ruins and 2) it was possible to take a bus to the top. However, we eventually made it to the top after about an hour of climbing and resting and climbing some more. The views were spectacular and in my opinion quite worth it! Not having mountains home in Wisconsin really makes me appreciate what they have here.
Once we were done playing among the ruins, we trekked back down to find a bus. Taxi drivers tried tempting us, promising that we only had to pay 40 soles (about 13 US dollars). A bus is only 2.40 soles (not even a whole dollar). Finally, after about 20 minutes we managed to squeeze our way onto a bus homeward bound. The downside was standing for the entire way home we had to stand squished between everyone else who managed to fit on the bus. At least it was mainly women on that bus... I'll mark that one down as one of my many "experiences"