Blogs from Machu Picchu, Cusco, Peru, South America - page 13

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South America » Peru » Cusco » Machu Picchu January 10th 2013

Spoke with the hotel staff last night and got the drill on the weather here. During the rainy season it is clear and blue in the mornings, with the rain beginning about 1300 – 1400, getting heavier and lasting for the remainder of the day. So we got to the ruins site early and were able to take a leisurely hike of the ruins, taking a million photos, exploring the various areas and with only about 15% of the touristas that were present yesterday. The only place we were not able to get to was the very top of Wayna Picchu (the tall, pointed peak you see in all of the photos), because it takes forever to get through the line for a pass and actually climb the peak (very limited access), we had a train ... read more
A Money Shot
Actual time is 1130 --Look at the Sun image
All aboard!

South America » Peru » Cusco » Machu Picchu December 23rd 2012

Ons is 4:30 alreeds uit die vere om reg te maak vir Machu Picchu. Ons vang toe die bus 5:30, en verbasend was daar alreeds 5 busse voor ons gewees! Mens het die opsie om op te loop van Aguascallientes wat omtrent 'n uur en 'n half sal vat, of 'n peperduur busrit, wat net 'n halfuur vat vir flippen 19$! 6 Uur klok ons by Machu Picchu in, kan amper nie glo ons is regtig daar nie! Dit is ongelooflik mooi! Ons het rustig deur die ruins gestap tot by Huayna Picchu, dis nou die hobbel berg wat mens in al die bekende fotos van Machu Picchu in die agtergrond sien. Ons het ekstra ingang kaartjies gekoop om daai bergie uit te klim, om 'n mooi view van Macha Picchu te kry. Hulle laat net ... read more

South America » Peru » Cusco » Machu Picchu December 12th 2012

The bus to Cuzco was no big drama. We had the comfy seats downstairs, (For a whopping £1 each more!) with only 2 French people with us on that floor. The only problem was that yet again there was a Spanish dubbed film playing really loud to when nobody could speak spanish. (Even without knowing what they were saying we are pretty sure Transporter is a terrible film!) On arriving in Cuzco we checked into our hotel for the first night. We are meeting up with our group for the inca trail tour tomorrow, so have to move hotels in the morning. They advise arriving a few days early in Cuzco to acclimatise, but as we have already been at higher altitude than Cuzco for 10 days, we just went for the day before. After checking ... read more
Feeding the Llamas
Watching the ladies work
view over the sacred valley

South America » Peru » Cusco » Machu Picchu December 8th 2012

Machu Picchu is set in absolutely spectacular mountain scenery (see photo 1). When you go to Machu Picchu you can either have rainy weather or mosquitos. Unfortunately our group chose rainy and cloudy so the pictures were not the clear photos beloved of holiday brochures (see photo 2), but at least I didn't get malaria! The photo I have chosen was one of the rarer ones not partly obscured by cloud. The area gets severe earthquakes about every three hundred years - I had the foresight to stay in Britain until I was five years old to avoid the last one. Inca constructions are moderately resistant to earthquakes but damage to one wall from the 1950 one is still visible (see photo 3). In nearby Aguas Calientes, having run out of excuses I finally succumbed to ... read more
Machu Picchu
Earthquake damage
Guinea pig dinner

South America » Peru » Cusco » Machu Picchu November 21st 2012

Day 3 – 21.11.12 – Quishuarani to Lares Hot Springs Once again the day started at 5.30am with a knock on the tent and a hot cup of coca tea thrust through the tent door. On exiting the tent I glanced behind me at the mountain we trekked up and over yesterday, it was covered in snow. Whilst we’d had some snow on the summit it wasn’t settling, from the looks of it over night the snow had come down quite hard – we found out later that day that a different trekking company had tried to hike the same summit and had been snowed off so were very lucky! Today was a totally different trek to yesterdays, still a sharp climb, over 600meters in 2 hours, but the weather was fantastic, the sky was clear ... read more
Day 3 - Ready to go
Day 3 - With the Guide
Day 3 - Beautiful views

South America » Peru » Cusco » Machu Picchu November 6th 2012

When you´re travelling for 3 months, and in particular in cultures other than your own, you know it will hit you at some point.. Food poisoning! You just hope it won´t happen at a key moment, like, let´s say, the one night before you´re supposed to see one of the world wonders.. Ahum. We´re still not quite sure what the cause was, especially as we just had had a wonderful dinner at the best (or only good?) restaurant in town, French-Peruvian, with bottled drinks only, and no raw food. It hit Stephen much harder than me, but it meant that neither of us slept much that night. We allowed ourselves an extra hour of sleep, but no more, as we had especially planned to spend the night in Aguas Calientes (alias Machu Picchu Pueblo (town)) to ... read more
Our train to Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu
Bye Bye Machu Picchu

South America » Peru » Cusco » Machu Picchu October 23rd 2012

The big day—the trip to Machu Picchu has been my dream. The guide came at 5:40 AM right on schedule to take me to a van which drive me to the train station to catch the “Vistadome” train at Poroy near Cusco. The three hour train ride allowed me to catch up on sleep and enjoy the breakfast spread on fabric Inca print table cloths. At Aguas Calientes the guide asked me to wait, but was frustrated because my time was so short. We finally went to the bus and took the ride to the top around many hairpin curves. The walk up to the “Facebook” vista, as the guide called it, ended where we could see the famous sight of Machu Picchu spread below us. I broke away from the group, even though the guide ... read more
Machu Picchu, Peru
The Terraces Made by the Inca
The Meal on the Train to Machu Picchu

South America » Peru » Cusco » Machu Picchu October 23rd 2012

The night before Machu Picchu, i decided to squeeze in a trip to the hot springs in Machu Picchu base town, as you do!! it was twilight so i watched the sun fading on another day whilst floating in the natural warm waters then got an early night for the 3.30am start the next day!! When the alarm went off i was really excited knowing that i would be sitting on top of one of the new seven wonders of the world in a couple of hours. i packed my day pack and waited in the dark lobby of our hostel for my fellow travelers. when they arrived we headed towards the centre of Machu Picchu town to make our way up to the Incan ruins. We arrived there before the sun rise but thick cloud ... read more
Machu Picchu - 5.30am
Machu Picchu & me
Machu Picchu - having a celebratory beer at 9am!!

South America » Peru » Cusco » Machu Picchu October 9th 2012

What is better than seeing one of the wonders of the world? Seeing one of the wonders of the world after trekking for four days, despite your doctor telling you to cancel your trip due to you having whooping cough and pneumonia a month before boarding the plane to Peru! The altitude sickness had eased a little after two days acclimatising in Cusco but my head still felt like it was getting squashed like a grape. Doing my shoe laces up got me out of breath more than a hard session at the gym. I’m usually very active in England, going to the gym almost every day, but being ill and being at altitude meant I had the fitness levels of an obese person with angina. We met the other people in our group who we’d ... read more
Machu Picchu
Day 1 of the trek
Looking out from inside Machu Picchu

South America » Peru » Cusco » Machu Picchu October 1st 2012

October 1, 2012 Starting Elevation 2680m (8792ft) 4th Camp - Cusco!- Warm Bed and Shower Well here it was, the day we had all been looking forward to: Day 4 Inca Trail and time for some Machu Picchu action! During the briefing the night before we decided to get up even earlier than we had been, 3:30am if memory serves me correctly...the deal with this day is to reach the Sun Gate by sunrise, and with this only being about a 4km hike it wasn't going to take long...plus everyone in the camps is thinking the same thing; dreading the thoughts of traffic jams on the trail for this final leg... So we were up and doing our final packing, saying goodbye to our porters and tents before making our way down to the checkpoint...it was ... read more
Crack of dawn at the Control Point...
Control Point
View from the trail...




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