The condor and snake on a building in Pisaq.

The beginning of the trail up to the Pisaq ruins.

Looking back down at the town of Pisaq and toward the Sacred Valley.

This is the way I walked up last time I went to the Pisaq ruins. On the way back last time, I took an amazing trail and decided to go up that way this time.

However, I missed my turnoff and hiked up this dry creek bed.

Here I am looking back down the way I came. I was up for an adventure so I kept climbing up the gorge. I wondered if I could get to the path I used before but I didn't see a way. I knew that I had to be extra careful as I was crazy enough to be doing this alone. I had a clue that this was a traveled path because every so often, I would find a plastic bottle crushed in the rocks--sort of like a bread crumb trail, only sad.

This is one of the amazing architectural feats of the Incas. These are tombs in the wall of the mountain. How did they do this? They have long since been raided so where there was treasure and bones, nothing remains.

Here is a view from higher up the mountain. See the trail on the right? That is the one I was refering to that I hiked down last time. See the gorge to the left of it, that is where my journey took me this time. It seems to be symbolic of my trip this time, more challenging. The phrase, "to see what I am made of" keeps coming to me.

This is the view looking down on the other side of the mountain. Last year when I came to Pisaq, all of the terraces were green, the waterfalls were flowing and there was water in the canals. But even with the amount of rain there has been this time, it is the dry time of the year. Not as green, no water in the waterfalls etc.

Another view of that gorge I hiked and the trail I could have taken. I was sure to take this shot so I would find the trail if I ever walk up here again.

Going down the face of the mountain. Lots of steps.

When I reached the bottom I took a taxi back to Cusco, then walked and walked some more to my apartment. Dead tired when I got home. A good tired. Not the first time, not the last.