From: Tomer Morad [tomer_morad@hotmail.com] Sent: יום שלישי 09 אוקטובר 2001 22:38 To: tomer_morad@hotmail.com Subject: machu pichu Ola amigos! As you probably guessed from the subject, I have been to machu pichu in the last four days. But before I tell you about the hike, I want to tell you that salsa is an israeli conspirency... The night before the machu pichu I went with some of the people in my hostal to a disco. Apparrently there was a salsa lesson, with an ISRAELI salsa teacher. The lesson was of course, in HEBREW! Forget JFK and Rabin. This is a really large scale conspirency! A way to make israelis believe they are cool by teaching them a non-existant dance... The hike was an organized hike, where the company supplies the food, tents and the guides. Our group consisted of 7 britans, 4 americans, 3 from belgium, 1 from france, 2 from germany, and me. I double-checked before I went out that there are no israelis in the group. This turned out to be very good because the group was very nice and friendly. Most were doctors, so if anything would have gotten wrong the group would have helped. The first day of the hike was nice and easy. We drove to the beginning of the track, and started walking. The second day was supposed to be the hardest day, as we were supposed to climb from 2900m to 4200m. The guides suggested that we take porters, and some did, but not me! Me, a porter???? I have been in the mighty israeli army (typing...) and also done military training (02)! I don´t need any porters, I will show those goyim what israelis are worth! So we started walking. The first 10 meters was ok, but then it started to get hard. I was feeling my 17kg backpack (I had 6.5 liters of water), while breathing heavily. As I was sweating my way up I saw almost all the people from my group pass me. I really showed them. Then I saw the other groups pass me as well. 50 year olds, guys, girls, even the fat israeli grils... My pace was walking 10 meters and then resting for a minute... I said to myself, no rush, noone is chasing you. I was damn right. Noone was chasing me because I was the last person on the inca trail from all the groups. No doctors in sight.. To make me feel better it strted raining also... After a few hours of sweat and rain I finally started to see the summit. The guide was waiting for me there, waving and calling Tomer, Tomer... I dragged myself up there having virtually no breath, only to see that I had to walk down for another hour. It was only me and the guide on the way down... I arrived two hours after everyone... Then the porters, who carry 30kg each and run up and down the mountains, looked at me and laughed... Afterwards the guides also joined the fun... funny... Actually I took it pretty well, as it was a really funny situation... The third day was much easier, maybe I was more in shape. I was not last anymore! Actually I was among the first people. We had to climb another 500 meters, and then 300 more, but most of the day was downhill. We got to see many archeological sites on the way. On the fourth day we got to the machu-pichu. It looks so much better there than in the pictures and postcards. Really amazing. A whole city that remained intact for many many years. Now I am back in cuzco, hanging out with the group of the hike, going from bar to bar, playing darts... Maybe I will go to a spa... My muscles are all streched now. The real dillemas are starting. When and what to eat, what movie to see, which bar to go to, when to sleep, etc... My next plans may include one or two hikes, maybe the jungle, or rafting. Best regards, Tomer. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp