Man.  The last few hours have been some of the best in the last few weeks.  Getting out of big city Cusco has been so refreshing, and now I've found myself in one of the most beautiful places I've been in my life.  We took a breathtaking taxicar ride with another girl, woman and child through the Sacred Valley to get here, patchworked hills between the giant jagged mountains of the Andes kept us quietly staring out the window. 
It was stormy when we left Cusco. we had spent the hours before leaving trying to find the building to get our tickets to Machu Picchu, arriving just after it closed.  The taxi driver couldn't even find the place without wandering for a while, and we just accepted it wasn't gonna happen for us, and there was nothing we could do about it-so we sang and danced to Maroon 5's"Payphone" in the back of the cab instead.  Once we found our ride to Ollantaytambo, it began to hail and lightening as we drove up and out of the city.  The driver weaved around cars on semi blind curves in the hills and hail, but we felt warm and trusted in his quiet and calm confidence.
Ollantaytambo is a very small town literally nestled between the mountains on the valley floor.  We got out of our car and felt strong and fresh winds that I'm pretty sure just lifted both of our spirits about 100 points. We walked and found our hostel, called casa de wow (lolz), and were just so pleasantly surprised.  This place is great.  I don't really know how to describe it, but I'll try.  We came in the front door, greeted by the hostel's owner, Winn, who showed us our room which was right inside the cosy two floor place.  In the center, A giant 6 foot dreamcatcher hangs low next to the spircal staircase to the second floor. The room I'm in now, the living room, is small, warm and comfortable with cozy red couches, stonework walls, and tapestries on the wall. We were soo happy to see a guitar in the corner upon arrival, and I get to listen to Leslie play and sing while I write this and drink my cup of tea. 
After dropping our things, we walked to find a place to stay for our second night, because casa de wow is booked tomorrow, and found a place down the street, where one of the people who run it showed us the terrace.  Looking out on the town past him and leslie talking, I was just dying inside, or being born, I don't know, maybe that's dramatic, as I saw the ruins beyond them on the hill.  An Incan emporer built this town and his royal estate on the hill here hundreds of years ago, and served also as a stronghold for the leader of the Incan resistance at the time of Spanish conquest.  Just standing there on that mountain.  Right there. Gosh.
After we walked through the rain and had a delicious delicious lunch, we walked through some more rain up a stone pathway that leads to more, smaller Incan ruins.  It was getting dark by now, but we reached a point that had a structure that served as an Incan refrigerator and sat on the edge of the cliff to take in where we were.  I feel so alive in the rain.  I accredit it to growing up in Oregon, but I feel most relaxed, most myself, most in touch with my emotions when the streets are damp.  Looking down into the valley, and up into the low, thick, marshmallowey yet gray clouds, I felt encapsulated in Ollantaytambo, a feeling I don't think I've ever really realized before.  We headed back down the mountainside and found our way back to our hostel. 
Tonight is the full moon also.  While making tea, Winn read a horoscpe of sorts concering tonight's moon.. I don't remember much, but something about Aries moon causing some problems but to try and go with the flow instead of going back into familiar patterns, time to get your shit together, that's at least what I remember now.  It just felt very relevant.  Horoscopes all aside though, we are in the Sacred Valley the night of the full moon and we are waking up at like 4am tomorrow to ride one of the most beautiful train rides in the world up to Macchu Picchu.  Feels pretty awesome.  Ai.

Like I said, tomorrow is Macchu Picchu.  It may be raining, but that may just be perfect.  Love you all.

Emily