The Lost City: Machu Picchu

After taking the taxi from Cusco to Ollayantaytambo, we took the train from Ollay to Aguas Calientes, or "Machu Picchu City," because it is the city where everyone stays to go to Machu Picchu. Aguas Calientes is a tiny town, you can walk across the whole city in about 5 or 10 minutes. Everything is aimed at tourism since it is the entry point to Machu Picchu. All the same, it was cute and not a bad place to stay for a few nights. The first day, we decided to hike up to Machu Picchu. Aguas Calienetes is in a valley at the BOTTOM of the mountains, Machu Picchu is set at the TOP of those same mountains. It took about an hour and half for us to walk from our hostel to the entrance: 30 minutes from town to the "trailhead" and then one hour up stairs straight up the side of a mountain. It was a really beautiful hike though. And, of course, since it's rainy season right now, it rained on us the whole hike up in the morning and the whole hike down in the afternoon. We didn't count, but some Argentinian's told us that there were 1,460 (or something like that) stairs from the bottom to the top of the mountain. In any case, there were a LOT, and with the altitude, about 8,000 feet above sea level, it was quite a hike.

However, when we arrived and got our first glance of the city, I was in awe. Three best words to sum up how I felt: INCREDIBLE, AWESOME, INSPIRING. It's just so crazy to think that the Inca's built this city before there was all the technology available and everything. And just how intricate the city is, wow. The city was a lot different than any of the Aztec and Mayan ruins I have been to, more city-like and less pyramid-y. Anyways, I could go on and on about how much I loved Machu Picchu, but I'll just show some photos instead to try and transmit how amazing the ruins are.

Our train from Ollayantaytambo to Aguas Calientes. It was pretty nice even though it was the "cheap" train. It took us an hour and a half to go 27 miles, or so the announcement told us. But, the views were spectacular because we were going through the incredible, green mountains the whole time. As the automatic announcement on the train told us, "you will be able to see copious amounts of vegetation" :) You have to love those translations.

First view of the city with Maya. The part behind us is the main part of the city, with all the practical, city stuff. Maya informed me (she has studied ancient civilizations) that Machu Picchu was built as a "vacation home" for the Incan emperor. WOW.

At the sun gate. Apparently the "proper" entry into Machu Picchu.

See those roads zigzaging below? The stairs we hiked up cut through the middle of those roads. This picture doesn't do justice to how steep the mountain is.

The main entryway into the main part of the city.

Hanging out inside the city. These were the people I spent time with in Cusco: me, Karen, Lewis and Maya.

Looking out over the mountains and valley. The Inca's had a pretty nice view from their windows.

Enjoying looking out over the city. A lot of the ruins have been reconstructed to make the city look more complete, so it's hard to tell what is actually original. But it's quite impressive to see how the city may have actually looked (minus the roofs)

Llamas grazing in the main plaza of the city. They are "imported" (aka, they put them there for tourism sake) to demonstrate that even back in the days of the Inca, they used llamas to transport good.

Hanging out in some of the windows up near the observatory.

Look at how close together all the rocks in the walls are...impressive. Apparently the didn't really even use anything to hold them together, like we would today. Also, imagine even putting those rocks in place...I know I'm not strong enough.

Well, there are a few of my favorite pictures from our first day :) I can understand why it's called "the Lost City" for two reasons (I don't actually know the real reason...): it is buried so high up in the mountains that why would be wandering up there and also during the rainy season, it is constantly covered by clouds, making it really hard to see. It's more like the "disappearing city" during rainy season.

Cusco: the land of the Incas

Well I am skipping a lot of my summer adventures in hopes of trying to stay somewhat caught up with my tirp that I am now on: Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. I have been waiting for and planning this trip practically since I arrived in Chile, so it is pretty awesome that it has all been able to come together :)

On the night of the 20th, I said goodbye to my Mom, Amelia and Eli. It was definitely really hard, I wasn't ready for them to leave yet. But, we had a great time while they were down here and I am so happy they got to come visit me. Then, on the night of the 21st, I headed out. Although it was hard to say goodbye to Santiago and everyone there for 5 weeks, I was really, really excited for my trip.

I first took a plane from Santiago to Lima and spent th e first night in Lima. It was quite uneventful since I only had about 12 hours I didn't really go anywhere, just to my hotel by the airport, and then back to airport in the morning. But then, I was off on the first part of my adventure: Cusco, the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu. Flying into Cusco was gorgeous. First we crossed over the Andes, then into the valley of Cusco. Everything around the city is GREEN, that was the first thing that I noticed. And all of the roofs in the city are red, making a really nice contrast. Coming in for landing, we made a really tight turn around one of the mountains and then landed in what appeared to be the middle of the city.

My first afternoon in Cusco we didn’t do much. I took a taxi from the airport to downtown (funny story about that…I decided to take a taxi from the inside the airport since only “official taxi’s” are allowed inside the airport proper and I had heard horror stories of people being violently assaulted in taxis in Peru. But, I tried to bargain with the guy to take me for s./10 instead of the s./15 he was trying to get me to pay. He told me it would be s/12 if I went out the street for a taxi—a total lie, but that’s okay—so I just decided to pay the s./15 for my peace of mind. When we got to the Plaza de Armas, where he was taking me, I only had a s/10 bill or an s/50 bill. He didn’t have change for s/50, so after thinking for about a minute and trying to find a way to get change, he gave it to me for s/10 anyways J ) As soon as I was standing in the plaza I realized what everyone meant when they said that Cusco is a beautiful city. It really is gorgeous…all the architecture, the way the streets are laid out. Maya and I had decided we would meet in front of the church at 1pm, and it was only about 12:15, so I sat down on a bench to do some people watching. Of course, after being there for about 20 minutes, it started to rain, so I had to run over to the overhang on the edge of the Plaza and squint towards the church hoping to see Maya. Luckily, I met up with her without a problem. She was traveling with two other people: a friend from England and a friend from Australia. Both were really cool and easy to travel with, and we all had a great time.

We decided we were going to go to Machu Picchu for 2 days, leaving the on Tuesday and returning on Thursday. Monday morning we spent running around to all the different agencies getting tickets, etc (of course nothing is in the same place…) We got everything worked out, train tickets in hand, Machu Picchu and Wayna Picchu tickets, hostel reservation in Aguas Calientes, taxi from Cusco to Ollyantatambo (where the train leaves from) and our “tourist ticket” for the Sacred Valley (all the other ruins and museums in and around Cusco).

We had initially been planning to hike up to a ruin called Saqusaywaman (acronym “Sexy Woman,” real meaning “Satisfied Hawk” in Quechua) but because it was so late by the time we finished everything and we were all hungry, we decided to go to museums in the city for that day and climb Saqusaywaman when we came back to Cusco. We ended up going to three museum that day: Contemporary Art, the Museum of Qoricancha (some old Incan ruins in the city) and the chocolate museum.

This is the big church I met Maya in front of. It is HUGE, and I think by far the most elegant building in all of Cusco. I didn’t actually get to go inside because you have to get a separate ticket (they charge for EVERYTHING in Cusco), but just the outside was gorgeous. Also, there are church-like buildings about every other block in Cusco (on the Plaza de Armas itself there are two), I’m not really sure why there are so many. The “real” church (aka the one that is open for masses and such) is not actually on the main plaza, it’s about a block off of it. We did get to go inside that one, and it was also really beautiful.

There were lots of interesting paintings and sculptures inside. This is one of my favorites, depicting Machu Picchu in the clouds. It looks so mysterious and hidden, and I’m sure you can you understand why it is called the “lost city” if it’s always covered in layer of clouds! (Which is was for most of the day when we were there, since it's the rainy season.)

Here is the outside of the Art Museum. It’s in a smaller plaza located about a block off the main plaza. As I said, the architecture in Cusco is amazing and this building is just one example. On top is the Incan flag (not gay pride, as all guide books tell you), which is flown next to the Peruvian flag all around the Sacred Valley.

This is the site of Qoricancha. The big black-ish wall is the remains of the wall the Incas built, the church behind is what the conquistadores built. I believe that it was a Temple of the Sun, but I’m not completely sure. Inside the museum were artifacts they had found from around the valley…including Incan mummies!

This a delicious Peruvian dish called Aji de Gallina. It is kind of like yellow curry, except thicker. Peruvian cuisine is AMAZING. So many delicious foods and flavors. And the best part? You can get a set lunch menu for s/10-15, aka $3-5, for a lot of yummy food.

On the drive from Cusco to Ollyantaytambo. We decided to hire a taxi to take us because it was only about $2 more each, and then we could go on our time schedule. the drive between the two towns was breathtaking. We drove up through mountains and all around us were green hills and deep valleys. This is just a small glance at the incredible scenary. It just seemed like everywhere we turned the landscape got even more incredible.

The first visitors

As the end of my first semester came to a close, my first visitors came into town: my Dad and Gray. I cannot explain how wonderful it was to see some familiar faces from home. While I love Santiago and my friends here, it's always amazing to see your family and old friends from home. Anyways, I ended up having to meet up with them at my apartment because I had a test the day the arrived (lame), but everything worked out rather smoothly for them getting from the airport to my apartment (minus a minor taxi mishap that was easily fixed, thank goodness). I only got to see them for 24 hours because then they headed out to Buenos Aires for a few days, which actually ended up working out perfectly because I had my finals to finish up.

In any case, the end of the semester in Chile wasn't too different from any other end of the semester: stressful, lots of tests and essays. One nice surprise did happen though: I showed up to one of my exams only to be told I didn't have to take it because I had a high enough grade in the class! I guess that is sort of a common thing here, and it was definitely a huge sigh of relief for me. Other than that, everything ended up going pretty well at the end of the semester. I now that I passed all my classes...another good sign ;)

When my Dad and Gray got back from Buenos Aires we took a few days to check out the city. We walked around my neighborhood and downtown area, and I did my best to share the knowledge I had of the city. I felt a little bad, because I kept having to leave them to go do school stuff, but I tried to get stuff done the quickest I could to enjoy maximum time. It was kind of weird taking people around the city, and realizing how well I actually do know the city now, and how, just by chance of living there, I have already seen most of the major tourist sites.

One of my favorite nights that we spent together was Thanksgiving. I had my last final the morning of Thanksgiving (which was weird to have school on Thanksgiving), which was actually nice because the I could enjoy the evening and not be stressing out about school that night. We all shopping at La Vega, the big open air vegetable market in Santiago, for the freshiest veggies for dinner. Then we hopped on the metro and went to one of the biggest supermarkets in town (called Jumbo) to find the rest of our supplies. All and all, we were fairly successful in finding everything. Once we were loaded up, we headed back to my place to cook. My kitchen, and especially my oven, are not of the highest quality, so we had to do our best with what we had.

Gray and I prepared most of the food (mostly Gray teaching me what to do...), and surprisingly, there were no major mishaps :) We made some of the traditional foods and improvised some of the others: chicken (instead of turkey), cooked veggies, salad, beans and bacon, potatoes, pie... We had scheduled to have dinner at 8, so of course no one showed up until 9, which actually ended up working out well because the food was all ready at the point.

It was a really fun Thanksgiving, even if it was not the traditional one. I'm so glad that my Dad and Gray could be there to share it with me and that they were willing to prepare a big dinner and invite people over, in the Thanksgiving spirit. And, I'm so grateful that Gray was there to help prepare everything or I would have been completely lost! We were the only United Statsiens (I can't say Americans anymore, it has been drilled in to me down here), so for everyone else it was there first Thanksgiving, which I think made it all the more special and fun. We had Ivan and his parents, my roommate Pauline, Barbara and Eduardo (Barbara is the amazing woman who I stayed with when I first arrived in Santiago). Everyone seemed to get along, which was a huge relief, and the night passed quickly with a mixture of talk in English and Spanish.

Somehow, Gray's time in South America came to an end way to quickly. It seemed like she had just gotten there when it was time for her to hop on a plane back up north again. It was so much fun to spend time with her and my Dad in Santiago and I'm so grateful they got the chance to come down and visit me and I was able to show them a little piece of my life in South America :)

After Gray headed back, I had one more essay to write, which of courese I put off until the last minute (not totally my fault, my teacher kept pushing back the due date so I kept putting of writing it) until finally it was 12 hours before my Dad and I were supposed to get on a plane to Bolivia and I had still only written a paragraph...So, I ended up staying up rather late the night before finishing my essay, BUT I finished in time and got it sent off to my professor and a friend to print it and turn it in for me.

The morning before my Dad and I left, we tried to go get visas from the Bolivian consulate. However, they didn't have any (how a consulate cannot have visas, I do not understand. I think the only explanation is that Chileans don't need them to enter Bolivia, and not very many US citizens try and get them in Santiago). So, after a nice scenic trip to the Bolivian embassy, we were on the metro to the airport...

(for those who didn't realize the post below this one is also new even though it says it's from November, just FYI)