Peru/Machu Picchu

For part of this week (May 9 to May 13) I went to Peru with Kelsey to see Machu Picchu. Here’s the rundown of how it went…

Day 1: Kelsey and I flew from Quito to Lima and then Lima to Cusco. When we got to the airport, we wanted to take a cab to our hostal, but our cab driver Alfonso wound up being associated with a travel agency, so he drove us there and helped us set up our entire trip: transportation to and from Machu Picchu, a hostal in Aguas Calientes, a tour guide for Machu Picchu, and a tour of ruins around Cusco for when we came back. I was a little worried that we were getting taken for a ride, but he gave us a good price. After that, we settled into our hostal and explored Cusco a bit and saw the temple of the sun.

Day 2: We woke up at 5:30. We had to leave at 6 to catch our train from Poroy to Aguas Calientes. The train no longer runs from Cusco because it was damaging people’s houses. Anyway, Alfonso picked us up at the hostal and drove us to Poroy. We then took the train to Aguas Calientes, the town closest to Machu Picchu. From there, we went to our hostal, had lunch, wandered around the town a bit, and took a nap. After that, we went to the hot springs in Aguas Calients, which were very relaxing. After that, we went back to our hostal and waited for our guide to brief us on Machu Picchu. He came around 6:30 and told us if we wanted to hike up to Machu Picchu we had to leave the hostal by 4 am. So, we grabbed some dinner (including alpaca meat) and went straight to bed.

Day 3: We woke up at 3:30 so we could leave the hostal by 4 as suggested. The hike up to Machu Picchu is not exactly what my body wanted me to be doing that early, so I got sick half way up. Despite my very slow pace, we made it up before sunrise and before the first tourist bus, which was our goal. The reason we wanted to get there so early was so we could get a number for Wayna Picchu. Wayna Picchu is a mountain that overlooks Machu Picchu, and only the first 400 people are allowed up. So, we got in to Machu Picchu, got our numbers for Wayna Picchu (245 and 246), and explored the ruins for a bit. At 8am we had a guided tour of Machu Picchu, and we started our climb of Wayna Picchu at 10:30. Wayna Picchu was pretty sweet. The climb itself was quite the lower body work out, but it wasn’t too hard in general. I don’t know where my fear of heights went, but I had no problem climbing ladders and standing on top of slanty rocks at the top of the mountain. It was pretty cool. On the way up, we met a Sikh (priestess) from Santa Fe and a world traveler from Austria. They were pretty cool, and the four of us went to the temple of the moon on the other side of the mountain. We took forever getting back because it started raining, but it was all worth it. After that adventure, Kelsey and I were done with Machu Picchu, so we went back down to Aguas Calientes, grabbed some dinner, and caught our train back. This train only went to Ollataitambo, so we had to take a taxi to Cusco. It only cost $7 for about an hour and a half.

Day 4: We had a tour of Valle Sagrado (sacred valley) with Alfonso. He picked us up around 8:30 and drove us everywhere. First we went to Tipon, Inca ruins. Then we went to a market in Pisaq. Finally, we went to a weaving compound. The place had the whole weaving process: the llamas and alpacas, the dyeing process, the weavers (indigenous people using traditional patterns), and the finished products. It was pretty cool. After that, Alfonso drove us to the airport. We flew from Cusco to Lima, had a 6 hour layover in Lima, and then flew to Quito. We got into Quito at 3am. Needless to say, I slept a lot when I got home.