Advertisement
Published: February 5th 2009
We left Cusco early in the morning to catch a 4hr train ride to Aquas Calientes (town at base of Machu Piccu City). Cusco started at nearly 12,000 ft of windy barren highlands and traveled down to the lush green Andean Valleys at 8000 ft. We rode in a Vista Dome train (windows in the ceiling) which allowed us to see Incan ruins and the huge mountain tops along the way. Aquas Calientes was none too impressive, a tourist trap of bar/restraunts and souveniur shops but the view was incredible. The Andes Mtns tower 1000´s of feet above Aquas Calientes, only direct acces to the town is via train or hiking. What started as a creek next to the tracks in Cusco was a raging Class 5 river when we reached Aquas Calientes. We were informed to visit Mandor where there was a waterfall and tropical garden¨just outside of town¨so we spent the rest of the afternoon hiking the train tracks until we found the tropical path that led us to the 3story waterfall. The water was ice cold but we could not resist testing the waters which felt great to cool off.
The next morning at 4:30am we woke
up and caught the 4th bus up the mountain to get in line to hike the mountain Waynapicchu which only allows 400 climbers per day... and even though we woke before the birds... we ended up being nos 344 and 345. Surprisingly, folks wake up around 2:30ish and hike the mountain to the city and we´re talking hours of vertical Incan stairs!!
When we arrived at Machu Piccu City the sky was clear, but in only a couple minutes a fog drifted in that brought visibility down to 20 ft and hung around for over an hour. When it cleared we had a 2 hour tour explaining all that is known about the city. It wasn´t discovered until 1911 and was completely overgrown by jungle with no remains left by the Incans. What they did find were the remains of an observatory, a rain water collection and irrigation system, serperate boys and girls schools, and housing for over 1500 people... but the location itself was the impressive part. The city is literally carved out of the top of the mountain and 3,000 ft drops surround the village and there are jagged green mountain tops as far as you can
see.
After our tour we started our ¨hike¨up Waynapicchu and were quickly initated. The path was nearly vertical, with partially eroded Incan steps leading the way. It was a 1hr hike up with an incredible view, but the trip down was a different story (Chrissy was on the verge of a nervous breakdown... conquering her fear of heights). The route provided to hikers for the decent down was nothing more than tiny verical steps, a large slab of rock providing a ¨slide¨(no other option) with all locations having sheer 3,500ft drop offs inches away. But the good news is, We Made IT!! The bad news is 1 person per year dies from the hike, sometimes it pays not to know all the details! Ha!
We are currently in Iquique, Chile... and have been for the past 5days. We have much of catching up to do. For the time being our stomachs have adjusted to the local food. 😊 We did avoid the Peruvian delicacy ¨Guinea Pig¨... most expensive item on the menu!!
Take care... talk to you soon.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.054s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0355s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb
Rebekah & Eric
non-member comment
Wow!
There is no way I would ever take that "hike" but way to go Chrissy for conquering your fear of heights and what a way to do it. I love the new pictures! You guys look great!