Cusco and Machu Picchu

---

Sandwiched between our two visits to Lima was a 5 day stop in Cuzco. Cuzco is an ancient Inca capital and now the most popular tourist destination in likely all of South American because it is the jumping off point for Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley. There is evidence of Inca stonework all over the town in the walls, arches and doorways. To switch things up a bit, we opted not to take the 15-20hr zig-zaging bus ride from Lima to Cuzco and instead bought ourselves the 1hr flight instead. Cuzco and the surrounding region had very serious mudslides in December and it absolutley destroyed their tourism industry essentially until the beginning of April because Machu Picchu was closed for nearly 2 months for repair to the railway. Because of this, local airlines have been offering dirt cheap flights from Lima to Cuzco to get people to start visiting the area again and we were lucky enough to grab one of the sales! It turned out the flight was cheaper than the bus would have been!

On our day of arrival we spent much of the day resting and just checking things out. Our flight was at 5:45am so our 3:45am wake up call caught up to us later in the afternoon. Also, it being a Sunday, essentially everything was closed so we didn't have many options. The highlight of the day ended up being when we stumbled upon an Irish pub that happened to be showing the live coverage of the Masters! I (Greg) obviously was delighted and so we spent the afternoon watching the back 9 of the tournament and drinking Guiness (well, Laura had vodka-tonic, but I drank Guiness in true Irish fashion!)

Day two was Laura's birthday, and what better way to celebrate than to go ATVing! The two of us plus a guide first drove for about 15mins through town to get to the offroad portion of our trip. This was cool because it gave us a taste of South American driving (a bit hectic I must say). After getting out of the city we made our way up into the mountain area and eventually reached a dirtbike/ATV race track where we went around the loop for about 10 or 15mins. Laura had the most exciting moment here when at one point on the track, she accelerated a bit to quickly up a steep high and flew right off the ATV onto her back! Witnessing all of this from about 30 meters back it didn't look pretty however no damage done, she popped right back up, dusted herself off and continued on. For the rest of the trip we cruised around the hillside through a few farms and eventually back down to Cuzco. We both had a blast, but we were exhausted by the end of the 3 hours. It's surprising how tiring something like that can be! To top off the birthday celebration, we went out to one of Cuzco's best restaurants for dinner, both had great meals, and then tried out two bars for drinks to end off the night.

Day three we spent basically touring around the main square in Cuzco (Plaza de Armas) taking pictures and checking out the sights. Cuzco is pretty heavy on the churchs/museum scence which isn't really our thing, so for sometime in the afternoon we got a cab out to a ruined ceremonial Inca center with really cool Inca walls called Sacsayhuman. The wall is made up of stones as large as 130 tons that fit together perfectly. There is three walls which run parallel for 360m. Apparently, the ruins are thought to have been a great santuary and temple to the Sun. We didn't hire a guide for this so we didn't learn much aside from what our guidebook mentioned, but it was still an interesting thing to see.
Day 4 was our departure day for Machu Picchu. Our original plan before starting our trip was that we would do what is called the Inca Trail. This is a 4 day hike that takes you to Machu Picchu and is quite popular with backpackers and anyone interested in hiking. It's tough because of the altitude, and it is supposed to make the sight of Machu Picchu on the 4th day even more rewarding. Unfortunately, due to the complications from the mudslides and the damage done both to the trail and the railway, there was no availability with companies (guided tours are required) for the dates we would be in Peru. Like I mentioned before, the railway leading to Machu Picchu was seriously damaged and currently is only operating at 20% capacity. Because of that, we didn't think we'd even be able to get the train (the lazy way of reaching the site), but fortunately there were still seats left when we checked about a week in advance so we got to go!

First, just some quick background on Machu Picchu for those of you who haven't heard of it. Machu Picchu was a complete Inca city that straddles "the saddle" of a 2380m ASL mountain with steep terraced slopes on either side of the site that fall down to the Urubamba river below. To add to the already incredible site, the mountain Huayna Picchu towers above, covered in lush green vegetation. Machu Picchu was overgrown until an American (Hiram Bingham) stumbled across the site in 1911. Since then it has been extensively researched and been the target of many archeological expeditions. It was once considerd one of the seven wonders of the world, although I'm not sure now as there are many lists (it's on one of them for sure). Normally, when the railway is running at 100%, you simply hop on the trail from Cuzco and in about 3 hours or so you reach a town called Aguas Callientes which is the closest town to Machu Picchu. However, with the train only running at 20%, we first took a 2 hour cab ride from Cuzco to a much smaller train station (the beginning of the currently functioning part of the rail), then boarded the train for 1.5 hrs before reaching Aguas Callientes.

After checking into our hostel and taking a short nap, we grabbed lunch and then hopped on a bus for our final leg of the journey before reaching MP. The bus took about 20mins and climbed very steeply up the mountain side, switchbacking it's way up. This ride was not for the faint at heart, especially when our bus encountered a bus coming down the road. The driving would then proceed to BACK UP, right to the mountain edge (we are talking sheer cliff, no barrier), let the descending bus pass, and then continue on his way. Basically this was a close your eyes type of thing and just hope for the best haha. Fortunately for us, April (mudslides aside) is low season for Machu Picchu. Also, most people head to the ruins early in the morning so by the time we go to the site at around 1pm, it was quite quiet for such a famous attraction. We hired a guide to take us through the site for our first 1.5hrs there which ended up being a great idea. The guide was very knowledgable about the site having guided for nearly 20 years now, and after arriving at the site and realizing how big it really was, without a guide we would have just wondered aimlessly for hours, not having a clue what we were looking at. The guide was able to tell us about what many of the rooms where used for, explain some of the main archetextual and engineering highlights as well as give us a general idea of why the Incas chose this site for the city. It was all very fascinating. After grabbing a small snack, for our remaining 1.5hrs at the site before it closed Laura and I headed to one of the higher points of MP which has a great view of the entire site below and just relaxed, took pictures and basically enjoyed the scenery as the sun went down over the mountains. This was when it really hit us how absolutely breathtaking MP is. The site itself is incredible, and it could be pretty much anywhere and it would be incredible, but put that site in the surroundings that MP is, with jungle mountains all around and the site just perched on the top of one mountain peak with sheer drops off either side makings it absolutely stunning. We'd be hard pressed to name a more truly beautiful and breathtaking place on earth that we have visited, or likely ever will. MP very quickly became a top 3 sight that we have visited on our trip thus far and something we will never forget. Words really can't describe how amazing this place was. Hopefully the pictures do a better job than my words.

After a fantastic meal and an overnight stay back in Aguas Callientes, we did our train/cab journey back to Cuzco again the following day. We spent the day in Cuzco mostly relaxing at our hostel, and then hopped on a flight the next morning early back to Lima.

Thanks as always for reading! We are basically 4 months down, 2 to go at this point. Lots of stuff left to see but I'm sure it will fly by.

We miss you all back home!
Greg and Laura

---