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Published: October 24th 2011
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Machu Picchu
The little town at the foot of the Machu Picchu. Another quick travel-update; this time around: Peru. The few rainforest and Cusco-pictures I took, don't do it any justice at all and so I left them out. I have, however, uploaded quite a few Machu Picchu pictures. Hope, you enjoy them! Early morning, December 7th, I started my short journey to Peru.
I took a plane from Santiago to Lima, and after a bad start and some problems I finally made it to Cusco by bus.
Cusco is a beautiful city, and I immediately felt at home, especially because I didn't have a very good first impression of Lima. In Cusco I stayed at the Loki backpackers, only for one night though, and then started my trip to the Machu Picchu the next morning.
Machu Picchu
I had booked a tour through my hostel, and so the next morning a tour guide picked me up and brought me to my fellow tour mates. We drove a few hours into the wild, and once we had reached the top of some mountain, everyone was getting ready for some serious downhill mountain biking. In the end, it was a lot less exciting than I had imagined, because for most of
Machu Picchu
This was all we could see when we first arrived at the top... it, we just went down an actual road, fully paved and all. However, the last part of the journey included some fun dirt biking, and because it had been raining the entire day, by the end, I was covered in a thick dirt-crust. It was a lot of fun, and the landscape just made it so much more incredible.
In general, what I've seen of the nature in Peru, driving through the mountains on a 24-hour bus ride, made me speechless most of the time. Rainforest, mountains, valleys, gorges, waterfalls, just pure beauty. It looks very different from what I have seen in Chile so far, a very different green and the feeling of being in the middle of a wild jungle.
Since I had only booked a 3-day tour (everybody else usually books at least 4), because I didn't have any more days (unfortunately), I left my group that afternoon, and some guy from one of the little villages drove his mother, one of the guides, and me across the mountains to join a different group, that was already on their second day.
Fun driving, probably the most ridiculous I have seen so far, but still very
Machu Picchu
...but once the fog cleared, the view left us speechless. safe. The car was going very fast, high above a gorge, on a 2-meter wide gravel "road," with cars and motorbikes coming from the other direction. Drivers here are nuts, worse than in Italy! I don't know why though, but I'm never really scared, because somehow they manage to still be the best drivers I have ever seen. He knew the road very well, and of course he had been driving on the same road for years and years.
We finally arrived in a small town (I think it was called Santa Magdalena, but I'm not entirely sure), and I joined my second group. That was when the real fun started! An amazing group of people, we got along straight away, and we ended up having the time of our lives. That night, we all went to a local big fiesta, dancing a bit of Samba and whatnot, and then to bed.
The next morning the group split in half, and while the others were going on a short hike, we went zip lining!
We first got all of our gear and then climbed up some mountain. They had installed six zip-lines going across a valley between two
mountains, and we went in sort of a zick-zack until we reached the last one, which took as back to the bottom of the mountain.
Amazing view, a lot of fun, and a fair amount of adrenaline!
After the adventurous part, we had lunch, and then went on to hike all the way to a little town at the foot of the Machu Picchu Mountain. It was a fun walk/hike, through the rainforest, along some train tracks, chatting and watching the beautiful nature.
We arrived at the town as it was already getting dark, and after quickly exploring the village - beautiful, by the way - and some fun card-games, we all went to bed.
Next morning - Machu Picchu day!
We got up at 4 and walked to the mountain in the dark. Hiking up the mountain was quite exhausting, basically climbing up at least one million natural stone stairs. But it was so worth it!
During the whole time it was completely foggy and mysterious, which was perfect for us, because we were sweating waterfalls.
Once we arrived at the top we had to show our tickets and passports and then we were allowed to enter
the ruins.
In the beginning we couldn't see a thing, because of the fog. All we could see was a few stones and some grass. We all gathered around our tour guide who gave us a quick background lesson on the Inca culture and the story of Machu Picchu. While he was talking, the fog began to clear, and as we looked around we realized how big the Machu Picchu was, and that we were standing on the top of a mountain, in the middle of nowhere, with ruins spread out over the entire mountain. The pictures will only show a little piece of this magic, unfortunately. Being there in person, incredible!
We ended up spending the whole day there, in awe, not really sure what was going on, if we were really there.
In the afternoon we headed back to town (the tour guide had already said good-bye and left), and spent the whole evening walking around and eating. At night we all caught a train and then a bus back to Cusco. We arrived late at night, and I went straight back to Loki, falling into my bed, exhausted from the wonderful trip!
Back to
Santiago...
I spent the next morning walking around Cusco, finding it even more and more beautiful, but then it was time to head back to Lima.
After another 24 exhausting hours, I arrived in Lima, and since I wanted to give it another chance, I went to the Loki there, having had a really good experience with it in Cusco. Good choice! I met the most amazing people there; we had dinner together, and later went to a body-paint party where we painted each other’s faces with neon colors. I got back to my room quite early (I had to get up at 5 the next morning to catch my flight), but I ended up having an interesting talk with one of my hostel roomies, and not sleeping anyway.
The trip came to an end very quickly, unfortunately. If I have the chance, I would love to go back to Peru and really explore it. It gives me a completely different vibe, compared to Chile. People are very different, the landscape so far has been more beautiful, and all in all, I couldn't have been happier!
Coming back to Santiago was a bit of a smack in the
face. Back to reality, back to everything I have been dreading lately. Santiago really is not a beautiful city, and living in this house is slowly starting to annoy me. I catch myself not wanting to go downstairs into the living room because I can't stand the drama that is going on between all of them. But I guess it is mainly the direct comparison between being here and traveling. Obviously, traveling wins. That's kind of a no-brainer. So I am just trying to adjust again, and because I am leaving for Bolivia this Wednesday, it's all good anyways! I am very excited to go, I will be staying with B. and his host-family in La Paz and I am very happy I get to see him and celebrate our birthdays together, and I am especially excited to finally get to know Bolivia!
I hope, that everyone is well, and I will report back as soon as I come back from Bolivia on the 6th of November!
Saludos, L.
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