The Sacred Valley

Firstly, a mini apology for the overall slight depressing edge that my last post had to it! I was lonely and fed up but now I have a buddy and am in the Sacred Valley and so I´m back on top of the world again!
I met up with Mariko on Friday afternoon and we went and bought our train tickets to Machu Picchu, despite the fact that no one knows whether it´s going to be open or not! We decided that we absolutely had to try because coming to Peru and not seeing Machu Picchu would suck a bit, so at least this way we know we are doing our absolute best to get there.
Yesterday we got a bus to Pisac in the Sacred Valley and spent the afternoon scrambling about the ruins that are high above the town and getting thoroughly lost and a little bit sunburnt! The setting here is beautiful, there are lush green mountains on every side you look and the remains of Inca terracing can be seen climbing its way up almost all of the hills. Sadly though, the effects of the terrible rain and flooding in January and February can be seen clearly. Driving up to the ruins yesterday and on our way to Ollantaytambo today you could see where houses had been washed away, where cliffs had crumbled down onto the roads and where whole fields of corn had been ruined. It´s sad, and the economy in the Valley has suffered because of the reduced influx of tourists.
We are now in Ollantaytambo, tomorrow morning I´m going to go look at the ruins and in the afternoon we are catching our train to Machu Picchu Pueblo with the hope of seeing Machu Picchu itself on Tuesday. Fingers crossed folks!