Machu Pichu Trip: Train Ticket

This is the ticket pamphlet for the trip to Machu Pichu from Cusco in 1978.  The first part of the trip was somewhat subdued as we climb out of the valley.  The train had to take many switchbacks and it looked pretty scary at times.  It was also fun to see the artifacts that the Incans had on their homes, and the roof style, with tiles.  It was a great trip as we had tour guides who provided instruction during the train ride.  This included pointing out many Inca constructions along the route, large boulders that hat been put into the river to create a place down stream for a bridge etc., terraces on the hills.  He also talked about the diet of the Inca.  This included many varieties of the potato.  The trip included such amenities as a box lunch.  We also had a tour guide at the ruins.  As a group we left the English speaking guide (his English was poor) and went with the Spanish speaking guide.  There was als some time to explore on your own, and we hiked to the top os a peak (not Machu Pichu, but a smaller peak.  It was incredible. 

My Copicua (Palindrome) Collection

Copicuas (palindromes) were considered good luck, and so I kept all by copicuas and glued them in my journal.  Mathematically there is a copicua every 100 trips.  This represents 20 copicuas.  Calculating this was that would be 2000 bus trips.  I was in Argentina for 22 months.  That is almost 100 bus trips per month.  Some areas we rode bikes, and so traveled less on bus.  Every place I served we also used foot travel frequently.  I also traveled by train frequently, especially longer trips to down town Buenos Aires.  However in one area, Don Torcuato, we would often travel between two train stations which were in our area. 

This is not the only tradition about things that cross in Argentina.  There was a belief that while shaking hands with a group of four, and if you criss-crossed with some one of the opposite sex it meant "Casamiento" or marriage.  As Elders almost almost shook hands as a pair, you wouldn't believe how many times this happened, and how many teams we were teased about it.