On my way home or in the airport as this is getting posted…some shots from the last day or so of traveling and new friends.
Waiting at the train station
Peru Rail
Out the window action shot
Some of the scenery
Back in Cusco
New friend #1 (photo credit: Ben)
Linda being shy and looking pretty confused
Yurie, Alexia, and me back in Cusco after 5 days of fun! Thanks for the memories! (photo credit: Mr. Driver Man who gave us a ride into town)
Aside from the fact that mosquitoes and imodium are now my best friends (thanks for the week supply of meds, Ben), things are great! I’m slowly recovering from the hike, enjoying Aguas Calientes, and am psyched that I got to go back to Machu Picchu for a second day. One difference from yesterday though was that I packed a lunch today because I didnt want to pay the outrageous amount of money I paid for lunch yesterday ($4 for a can of coke, $5 for a glass of gatorade, and $10 for a turkey panini, plus a 10% tax). I also wanted to look at Machu Picchu a little differently today since all those beams of light yesterday were so spectacular.
Machu Picchu from Mt Putucusi (hardest hike I’ve EVER done…85 degree climbs at certain points). Couldn’t have done it w/out you Ben
Yet another glorious sunrise from a different angle
Rays of light
Overlooking the valley from one of the terraces
That’s the mountain I climbed…Huayna Picchu (aka Wayna Picchu)
Llamas, llamas, llamas
Hordes and hordes of tourists lined up for the sunrise
Well…that’s it for now. I’ll do my best to get more pictures up in the next day or so while I’m traveling (hopefully). Heading back to Cusco, then Lima tomorrow to catch my plane ride back home. Its been fun! Can’t wait til the next trip…which I think will be sometime in December hopefully. Expectations are that it’s going to be a “man” trip…you know, camping, adventure, “danger”, meat…but who knows. Things change constantly. As for now, time for bed and some relaxation, then back home tomorrow!
Machu Picchu …there’s just something about the light in the mountains that makes this place simply amazing
I can’t describe in words how truly amazing Machu Picchu was in person. Simply awesome! My back aches, my legs are ripped to shreds and littered with mosquito bites, and I smell like 3-day old mayonnaise, but I finished my trek and got to stand before Machu Picchu in awe earlier today. Everyone says Machu Picchu in itself is more than enough to take your breath away (literally given the altitude), but that hike really worked me like I had never been worked before. Hours and hours of trekking every day, purifying river/stream water with water tablets, 0 degrees weather in the Andes, and a feet full of blisters, all really help you to appreciate Machu Picchu that much more. I could give you a detailed account of how I wanted to claw my eyes out, how close I was to giving up, or how I felt sick to my stomach everyday when I saw more stairs, but I’d rather focus on the fact that I did it (and I think that’s what I focused my camera on too). It was hard, it took a lot out of me, but in the end, I made it, and that’s all that matters. If you’d like the details, let me know, and I’d be more than happy to complain about share my experiences with you. If you’d rather just see part of what I was able to see, here’s what some of the trip looked like…
These feet are definitely NOT made for walking
On the road
The Andes
Sun Gate
The road to the Andes
Some lakes draining from Machu Picchu mountain
Cloudforests
Beware
The sculpted rock
Notice how it resembles the mountain range? The Incas sculpted the rock to harness the energy from their environment
Tres Ventanas
Morning inside the ruins
Some llama love inside the ruins
I was lucky to see the llamas the first day at Machu Picchu…they were nowhere to be found on the previous day according to other people
And of course…always gotta have a shot of the sunrise!
The way the light shifts and spreads over the mountaintops to reach Machu Picchu during sunrise is unreal. It creates so many shadows against the buildings and mountainside, and the haze in the air creates beams of light shining down from the sky. It’s absolutely beautiful, and definitely way better than Angkor Wat in my opinion. That should say a lot considering how much I loved the sunrise at Angkor Wat. I think there’s just something magical and eerie about this place…and what makes it so impressive is that it’s literally built on top of a mountain! Although most people only come to Machu Picchu for a day and then leave on a 3 o’clock train, you probably guessed by now that I stayed the whole day at Machu Picchu. I caught the sunrise, then hiked Wayna Picchu (the mountain directly behind Machu Picchu), and then worked my way around. I was most worried about not being able to hike Huayna Picchu, not only because I was extremely sore, but also because they only let 400 people hike it a day. I was able to secure a ticket though and it took me about an hour to make it to the top. After 2700 meters later, I stood at the top and had a SPECTACULAR 360 degrees view of the valley below which included Machu Picchu. To be honest, as great as it was, after the trek and the millions of stairs I had to cross, it was such a demoralizing thing for me to see more stairs for Huayna Picchu (let’s face it…that’s how the Inca’s rolled). I started counting steps (lost track after 1,236) because I thought that was the only thing that would get me through the hike.
At the very top of Wayna Picchu (photo credit: Steve from Canada)
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.
So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover.
– Mark Twain
…
At 4am through the bathroom mirror before my hike (yes…it’s REALLY cold)
So I found some time to explore some more of Cusco the day before my trek. It’s pretty exhausting, especially with the altitude, but Cusco is just a quaint little town with no more than 300,000 people. It’s built on a mountain basically, so the air is thin, it’s EXTREMELY cold at night, and everything is pretty much within walking distance. I met some more of the locals today, including some kids who were playing in the countryside.
Ollantayambo in the afternoon
Ollantayambo ruins
Ollantayambo peak
Cusco Alleys
Some Peruvians
Plaza de Armas from the rooftops
Figurines
Kids at play (and a little baby butt-crack)
My little amigo, Esteban
Just another day
Mountainside
Some landscape photos from the trek and Machu Picchu up next!
Okay…so my hostal apparently doesn’t have hot water. I found that out last night when I took the world’s coldest shower….ever! I couldn’t stand under the water for more than 10 seconds without feeling like I was going to lose a hand from frost bite. To top it off, my room doesn’t have a heater, so I bundled myself up in all my camping gear and went to bed with the outside temperature being close to 10 degrees celsius. I guess that’s what happens when you pay $7.50 a night for a room. Anyway, spent the day in Cusco again just to get used to the altitude. Did some hiking as well to prepare for my trek tomorrow morning. Here’s some more snaps.
La Iglesia in Plaza de Armas
Qoricancha
Peruvian landscape
Saqsayhuaman (pronounced: SexyWoman)
More of Saqsayhuaman
Incan Landscaping
Around town
Central Market
Peruvian Women
I think that’s a Llama…
Peruvian crafts
A view of Cusco from my hike
New friends
Well…that’s it for now. Still not tired of Cusco yet, but I’ll definitely have more time when I get back from Machu Picchu! I’ll probably explore a little more of Cuzco, maybe even Lima when my trek is done and I FINALLY get to see Machu Picchu. Although I’ll be in the Andes, I’ll probably have some posts scheduled to be published over the next day or so while I’m trekking, so don’t be surprised if posts magically show up =). Next stop…Machu Picchu! Alarm is now set for 5am!
So I officially arrived in Cuzco earlier today. I have to admit, I’m pretty exhausted. Couldn’t really sleep at all at the airport and on the plane, so even though I really should have just crashed when I arrived, I decided to do some exploring. Cuzco overall seems like a pretty safe area despite the “choke and grab” robberies, but I’m keeping my eye open and trying to be cognizant of my surroundings. Everyone’s pretty friendly except for the constant bombardment of things being shoved in your face at the markets and streets. No altitude sickness for me, but I am definitely more aware of my breathing and get winded so much more easily. It’s definitely more noticeable when I’m just sitting down and using both my mouth and nose to breath at the same time–gasping for breath whenever I walk a little too quickly. I should get better acclimated to the altitude overnight and then it’s off to the sacred valley tomorrow! Sorry the post isn’t very long, I haven’t slept in 48hrs and just need to crash. Long post tomorrow!
Inca ruins near Cuzco