JOURNAL OF DEREK RAYNE10 p.m. - Cuzco - Hotel del Sol
I can barely keep my eyes open even though I tried to sleep as much as possible on the planes. It has been a long thirty hrs. I am so tired from the trip I can scarcely think, but I want to make my notes now while the impressions are clear - almost clear.
Having arrived at the hotel, nothing would do but that we must immediately go in search of transportation and supplies. I do not know how Father does it. He never stops. All I could think of was a shower and a nap.
Later, we ate at a small Chinese restaurant near the cathedral. I don�t know why, but I was surprised to see the neon sign reading Palacio de Szechwan. I guess it would not have startled me in Lima or Mexico City, but somehow here, in the ancient Incan capital, it just seemed odd. They served a wonton soup and some sort of spicy chicken and noodle dish that was every bit as good as the restaurants in SF�s Chinatown.
Father seems to have an obsession with languages. He wouldn�t even let me eat in peace. It started on the flight from Mexico City to Lima. I asked the stewardess in Spanish for an additional pillow and apparently said it in the wrong tense. From then on, every time he knew I was awake he was drilling me in a dozen different languages. I don�t know how he keeps them all straight. Once, half out of exhaustion, half out of cussedness, I answered him in a combination of German, French, and Latin. One would have thought that I had committed a mortal sin. By that time I was so tired and confused it�s a wonder I didn�t answer him in Esperanto. I made the mistake of using the word �groovy� - don�t think I�ll do that again in his presence.
Tomorrow, we are going to the mercado to make some additional purchases of the illegal sort - a gun and ammunition, I suspect. Dad said we could go see the Coricancha, the Golden Courtyard, before we head out for Urubamba. He said that before the Conquest it was all covered in gold sheeting, but now all that remains is the amazing stonework. I want to see those immense boulders that are so tightly fitted you cannot get a knife�s blade between them. How did they do it without even the wheel? Could von Daniken�s "Chariots of the Gods" be right?
After we return, he promised to really show me the city, and Lima too. I just hope he quits with the language tests. Perhaps I�ll go on strike and speak only Dutch with him. I don�t think I�d like the consequences.
NEXT 
