Blogs from Machu Picchu, Cusco, Peru, South America - page 19

I arrived in Cusco at about 5am having not booked anywhere to stay, and went off with someone shouting "!habitaçion!" at the bus station for the first time. Early the next morning, I boarded a bus and met two American girls, two Danish girls, a German couple and an Argentinian woman; my group for the next four days. The bus wound through little farming villages to the starting point of the Inca Trail, where we met our guide, the chef and the porters. The morning walk was fairly easy; although the porters and chef ran, ready and waiting for us at the lunch spot. I soon understood why all six porter´s bags weighed 25kgs; as we sat down at a folding table and got served a delicious, restaurant standard four course meal! Before arriving at the ... read more

The biggest tourist attraction in Latin America – and now I see why. I´d been filled with anticipation since booking the Inca Trail months ago, but on arrival in Cusco the excitement gradually turned to dread. After deciding a personal porter wasn’t necessary (the group porters carry food and tents , so how much can some clothes and a sleeping bag really weigh ? Answer = A LOT), dread turned to fear. Luckily, my fears were nothing to be concerned about and the trek was actually very enjoyable, with enough hard work to feel like you really earned that first glimpse of Machu Pichu. Cusco is a real gem, beautiful plazas, grand churches and Inca ruins on every corner. You can tell the government plough all their resources into keeping this place clean, but I´m curious ... read more

From Cusco, we visited Machu Picchu, the Inca citadel from the 15th century, a world heritage site and one of the modern seven world wonders. As we decided to skip hiking on the Inca trail, we at least wanted a proper visit to the site and went on a 2-day-trip. We left Cusco in the evening to go to Ollantaytambo in a "collectivo", a 12 seat mini-bus, the two hour ride was a little rough but the scenery was really pretty. Ollantaytambo seemed like a nice little town but we only had about two hours there before our train to Aguas Calientes left which is the self-proclaimed Machu Picchu town and it really only serves the purpose of hosting people for a night or two on their Machu Picchu trip. Our first train-ride of the trip ... read more

Cusco We arrived early in Cusco after a 12h night bus from Arequipa for what was going to be an amazing two weeks! We found a really nice hostel with cool people and a chilled atmosphere. We spent the first few days visiting Cusco and the sacred valley. Cusco itself is an amazing (although very touristy) city. It was the capital city of the Inca empire and has lots of Inca ruins scattered around it. But it also has very nice colonial buildings and churches. The plaza Mayor (main plaza) is particularly impressive with the cathedral complex on one side, a jesuit church + convent adjacent to that, and colonial buildings with pretty balconies on the remaining two sides! Our 'sacred valley day' started early on a bus to Pisac, an hour away from Cusco. The ... read more

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 ... read more