Machu Picchu

I decided I couldn't wait another day until I documented my trip to Peru, which was almost a year ago! So Yes, the pictures are finally here...acutally, I finally found the time to post pictures!! So if you don't remember this past summer Brian and I (and my mom) visited my grandmother and lots of my family in Peru. We made a special trip to Cusco, Peru. A very beautiful colonial town where the Inca's once reigned. It was so amazing to see all the history of my ancestors. It was incredible! While in Cusco we traveled to Machu Picchu for a day to see one of the World's Greatest Wonders!! It was truly breathtaking I suggest to everyone to go to Peru and see Machu Picchu for youselves. It is a-ma-zing! I can't wait to go back and explore some more.

Here is a little history for you... so Machu Picchu is located in the Andes mountains of Peru, just 4 hours or so from Cusco. (takes 21 hours to get to Cusco by bus from the capital Lima...luckily we flew, took a whopping 1 and a half hours). Most people suffer from altitude sickness "soroche" upon arriving to Cusco because it is over 11,000 feet above sea level. Many drink a hot tea that helps the light headedness and nausea, it is a drink made from Coca leaves. Basically the plant that is used to make cocaine, but the leaves are just boiled in hot water. It really helped my altitude sickness but gives you a weird taste in your muth. Anyway, we traveled in a bus ( by bus I mean a 10 seater van that was super uncomfortable) for over 2 hours from Cusco on zig zagging roads and at one point lost sight of the paved road and then drove on railroad tracks, which just autheticated the experience. After the bus trip we rode the train for about an hour and a half then got into a small town called "Aguas Calientes". Once there we took another bus to get into Machu Picchu! Yeah, crazy, it took FOREVER. On our drive up there it was so crazy seeing the scenery change from moutainous to jungle. SO BEAUTIFUL! At one point the train stopped and I saw this random toothless old woman trying to sell some flowers. Pretty funny.

So as we finally reached our destination we saw that we were on the top of this mountain. It was crazy high!! We started on a hike for the best view and once we reached it we were silent for a minute just observing everyting in awe. It was a sight to see. Being so high up and having the sun beating down on you it was so hot, it felt as if the sun was right on my shoulders. However, in the shade it was freezing cold because of the high elevation. Here is the view from the top where we hiked to.

Isn't it amazing? Can you believe this great city was built thousands of years ago? The stones are so perfectly placed together with exactness.  How did they manage to get such heavy stones up such a tall mountain? There are so many miraculous things here, and so many unanswered questions. All the windows in the entire city line up perfectly so the light can reach the most inner part of the city.

 They were great engineers and architects, their precision is just marvelous. They even figured out a way to get an aquaduct system to travel up the mountain and flow throughout the city. It still works today and the nearrest hotel on the mountain gets its water from this SAME system. Anyway, here are pictures of how they were able to grow crops on a mountain: (each level is dedicated to certain plants, they were able to have agriculture on top of a mountain from this creation)

Brian and I also walked around for practically the whole day. It was SO exhausting!! So many stairs and steps, ups and downs, I am telling you the Incan empire was really in shape! Brian and I also were able to hike up mini Wayna Picchu. Unfortunately we waited too long in the day to tackle the Wayna Picchu hike and it had JUST closed but we were able to persuade some fellow Peruvians to let us hike mini Wayna Picchu. Wayna Picchu is the neighboring mountain, when I say mountain I mean it is gigantic, enormous, and all jungle. I was sad we missed the hike and at the top the best view of Macchu Picchu but we were able to climb the mini Wayna Picchu. Let me tell you this was not easy, I am a hiker and like climbing up things but this was hard!! At one point we had to grab a rope and climb up it to reach the next ledge. Another point we were on a cliff where the stone was only wide enough for 1 foot...you couldn't even walk straight you had to lay flat against the mountain and slowly scoot your way over to reach the endless stairs...yes it was difficult but so worth it!

At the top of mini Wayna. You can see all of Macchu Picchu!

There were so many llamas and animals there too. Brian almost got attacked because he tried to ride the llama. haha. Anyway here are some more random pictures of our adventures.

Next time we visit my family in Peru we are definitely making another special trip to Macchu Picchu and hiking the Incan trial all the way into Macchu Picchu. It is the trial the Incans would take to get down from these huge mountains. It is a 3-5 day backpacking excursiou filled with ancient ruins, stories, locals. in the jungle..doesn't it sound amazing?? Who is in?

Seriously, who wouldn't want to go here??