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Published: March 8th 2007
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Machu Picchu
that´s waynapicchu in the background we have found that one of the most difficult things to accomplish and decide on is where exactly will be the next destination of our travels...i know, cry me a river. it´s true though, we find ourselves sitting in cafes pleading our cases to eachother why one attraction or city will be better than the next. this was however not the case with peru and machu picchu ..we knew we had to visit this country. we arrived in lima and found our way to the beach side of the city where tourism was in full swing... also, it gave us our first taste of good wine in a long time... just a hop, skip and jump from the vineyards of chile and argentina. a day here allowed us to get our ticket into the highlands city of cusco. this was the starting point for everyone seeing the ruins...and the 2 mile elevation was obvious as soon as you tried ascending stairs over 4 steps..i was nearly winded brushing my teeth in the morning. the climate was quite a change and found that the only remedy to the cold was more layers..this included sleeping at night. no heat was provided in our
little hotel but hot water was a lifesaving amenity. we were excited to eat off the popular " menu turisticos" which were package multi-course meals for bargain prices..for example..we devoured an appetizer, soup or salad and some big-eyed, cute alpaca with desert for about 3 bucks. i knew those little guys could keep you warm but yummm!!! we roamed the streets being approached for this and that product or service until one caught our attention and stopped us dead in our tracks.. hour long massages for 8 bucks...trust me, we deserved them after our 3 days of non-stop travel...right? we decided that we would forego the complete tour packages for machu picchu and find our way there via the train and play it by ear. from cusco we hopped the peru rail line and clickity-clacked through the mountains, waving at kids and cows along the way. the native peruvians dressed in their colorful dresses and ponchos carried on about their lives feeding livestock, knitting on hilltops and washing clothes in the ice cold water. travel via trains allow you a unique and untouched view of this mountainous region of world. it was our first sight of snow in almost a
year. we learned that these tracks were brought in many, many years prior to historians discovering the machu picchu ruins and at best we reached 25 mph. ironically, this peru rail line was owned and under contract by a chilean company...another example of how this country is being fleeced by the world...don´t get me started!! being the outgoing americans that we are..we struck up a conversation with our train mate sitting across.. ze deutchlander jan!! yet another adventurous soul out on the road seeing the world..this time on his own. he would join us for the next couple of days encouraging us to partake in one of germany´s favorite activities..drinking beer. the last leg of the journey by train followed the river which was clearly the only place to lay tracks and we came to rest in aquas calientes...a tiny jump off town sitting on top of the river. it´s name taken from the local hotsprings close by. we finally found our way to the tiny room...and took refuge from the downpour of cold rain outside. armed with our obnoxious charm, we invited a fellow americans couple..big john and jakka from chicago to join us for happy hour...an inviting 3
for 1 offer on cocktails!! needless, to say..the rest of the day flew by and ended with us sneaking wine into the natural hotsprings. news had reached us days earlier that the original mayan trail to the ruins was closed for the month of february and would force us into the bus to ascend the hillside to the machu picchu site. what we weren´t prepared for was the sun breaking out of the dark clouds and bringing the temp up about 20 degrees over the course of the day. we did our best to shed layers and sweated our way around these amazing ruins and scaling the majestic waynapicchu which towers behind the main ruins. everyone should see this place..it is one of those destinations that exceed your expectations and photos really can´t do it justice.
a special thanks to troy for the recommendations surrounding the peru experience...very helpful!!
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Mel
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Peru
Great pix, guys!! Would love to visit Machu Pichu some day. Besos!