Climbing Machu Picchu and the Peruvian social ladder!

South America » Peru
January 17th 2011

Published: January 17th 2011

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Phaedy and Rashy

Top of our first hike...

250 setps up to Sacsayhuaman

We arrived in Cuzco very early on a freezing cold rainy morning and were straight away duped by the taxi driver who only informed us that the negotiated price was per person while driving through a very dodgy part of town...not much we could do except suck it up and pay the man! Not the bet first impression but luckily Cuzco had a lot of fun in store for us.

We thought it best to prepare for our Machu Picchu adventure by taking a short stroll up a billion steps to the ruins overlooking Cuzco - Sacsayhuaman (pronounced sexy-woman!!). We were much less fit then we thought, after all the drinking and eating over the last month. At the top we were offered a free tour (for a voluntary tip) by a random bloke but we took him up on his offer and learnt many interesting things - he even showed us the "ancient slide of the incas". Who knew the Incas had so much fun!!

The next day we departed for Machu Picchu, catching a train through the incredible Andes to Aguas Caliente where we spent the night relaxin in hot springs and eating cow heart kebabs. The next day

The Inca slide

we got up at 4:30 to get to Machu Picchu before it opened and the sight awaiting us was truly amazing. The clouds were so thick that we could only see glimpses of the city until suddenly the clouds parted and we saw the whole breath taking city...only to be covered up again a few seconds later. After a fascinating tour (Rashy didn't find it quite as fascinating as me) Rashy went back into town while I climbed up the neighboring mountain that only 400 lucky people per day can climb. After a grueling hike I reached the top and finally saw the condor shape of Machu Picchu (interesting fact - the incas often built their cities in the shape of an animal!).

After our Incan adventure we flew to Lima where we finally made it back to sea level after being at high altitudes for weeks. We were staying in the sea side suburb of Miraflores, a cool part of the town where many ex-pats reside. We were excited to get into some beach action, but unfortunately we couldn't bring ourselves to swim in the brown polluted water or lie on the litter filled beach.

We had

Inside the ruins of Sexywoman!

a great time eating and going out in Lima though, one night in particular when I was a brilliant match maker for a group of local girls, my new besties, and numerous men in the club. Turns out all my new friends were prostitutes so it wasn't hard to be a world class matchmaker...or unknowing pimp!

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