Machu Picchu, Peru

So, like any traveler who finds themselves in Peru one of my biggest - if not THE biggest - goal was to see the Machu Picchu. For those of you that may not know, Machu Picchu is a site of Inca ruins located in southern Peru. It was only discovered in the early 20th century after being abandonded when the Spanish conquered South America in the 1600´s (I think . . .). Before going I heard all kinds of stories about what its like as well as got tons of advise on how I should get there, what I should do and so on (its a bit complicated of a process and can be very very expensive). Despite my best laid plans and efforts to save money and bus all the way there I only made it to the first town from which I couldn't´t find the next bus so I had to take the train the rest of the way. I arrived in Aguas Calientes which is a small tourist town and the base camp for people who are visiting the site. Ohh my, I have never in my life encountered a place so overpriced and tourism orientated. Ehhh I didn´t like it.

The next morning I woke up really early in order to get in line at 5am for the busses that go from Aguas Calientes to the entrance to Machu Picchu (if you walk its really far and really steep). As soon as I got into Machu Pichhu I had to make a bee line to the other end of the ruins to get my ticket to walk up Wanu Picchu (a mountain that is part of the site that they only let 400 people each day climb). After that I got to watch the sun rise over the mountains surrounding Machu Pichhu and it was absolutely breath-taking. Just to see the rays of the morning light breaking over these impressive mountains - my pictures are amazing but not even close to how it was to actually be there. Machu Pichhu itself is this aww inspiring place because the architecture is so well done, advanced and just impressive. Especially when you take the time to think that this place was built on the top of a mountain over 500 years ago. I still wonder how they actually did it. This question was even more present in my mind when I hiked Wanu Picchu because it is soo steep and tough to climb that I can´t imagine how they hauled up the stones to create the structures that are on the mountain. The hike is more than worth it though for the incredible view of Machu Picchu and all the surrounding area. So incredible.

Honestly, my description of all this fails miserably at capturing what its like. Seeing pictures you can kind of have an idea but really you have to be there. After spending all day in Machu Picchu I went back to Aguas Calientes and went to the natural hot springs (thus the reason for the name of the town) with a group of people I had met in the ruins. Also tried Pisco which is a Peruvian liquor. Dangerous stuff . . . The next morning I bussed and trained back to Cusco.