Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu is arguably the most impressive archaeological site in the Western Hemisphere.  The ruins themselves are great, but the main attraction is the setting.  Nestled high in the mountains, the view is amazing.

Getting to Machu Picchu takes a while. We caught the first train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes at 5AM, then took a 25 minute bus ride climbing 1,300 feet up the mountain, arriving at Machu Picchu around 7:30AM.

After you enter the site, the view is breathtaking. We had perfect weather with a deep blue sky, and a clear postcard view across the ruins and the surrounding mountains. Like the Pyramids of Giza or the Great Wall of China, this is a wonder that lives up to the hype.

PeruRail train arriving in Aguas Calientes

Our first view of Machu Picchu

Inca ruins on Machu Picchu

Hanging out at Machu Picchu

Incredible views on all sides

Seconds before David got yelled at by employees for jumping. Also, Coke should buy this picture for advertising.

The mountainous setting is gorgeous

View through an Inca window

While we were walking around, we saw a llama that looked like it was squatting to go to the bathroom, but nothing was coming out. A few minutes later as we were passing by again, we noticed feet sticking out of the llama, and realized it was about to give birth. The employees helped with the birth, keeping the other curious llamas away and pulling out the baby. Seeing a baby llama being born at Machu Picchu was like living a Peruvian stereotype.

Just some llamas, nothing to see here

Wait a minute, it's a baby llama!

Awwww....

The famous mountain behind the ruins is called Huayna Picchu. 400 visitors a day are allowed to climb 1,180 feet up an Inca trail to the top of the mountain. We booked our tickets a month in advance to make sure we'd have the opportunity. The climb was strenuous, taking about an hour and going up a lot of steep stone stairs and even through a cave and up a ladder. We finally made it to the top and were rewarded with amazing 360 degree views of Machu Picchu, the surrounding Andes mountains, and the Urubamba River below. We highly recommend this climb, but make sure to bring lots of water (we didn't have enough and were very dehydrated by the end of the hike).

The top of Huayna Picchu. See the tiny people?

Looking down at the river

So many steps at such a high altitude

That winding trail is the road the buses take up the mountain

Stephanie at the end of the cave

We made it!

Like being on top of the world!

The breeze at the top was great after the long climb

Watch your step!

View back to Machu Picchu from near the top

Back in Aguas Calientes, we had some guacamole as a reward! :)

David above the river in Aguas Calientes

Time to catch our train back to Ollantaytambo. We had the same train attendant we had for our morning ride!

The scenery on the train ride wasn't too shabby either!

We caught a cheap combi (shared taxi van) back to Cusco, arriving around 9PM after a very exhausting day. Machu Picchu was an amazing experience. It's an expensive and complicated journey: you have to buy your entrance tickets on a confusing website ahead of time (especially if you want to climb Huayna Picchu), travel from Lima to Cusco, take a train (it's the only way to get to Aguas Calientes), and take a bus for the final leg up the mountain. We highly recommend staying both the night before and the night after visiting Machu Picchu in Ollantaytambo and/or Aguas Calientes. Our hotel (Tunupa Lodge) is a great option. We went all the way back to Cusco on the same day, and it was a bit too much travel. We all got a little sunburned and our legs were sore, but visiting Machu Picchu and climbing Huayna Picchu is an experience we'll never forget.

Cusco and the Sacred Valley: Part 2

We've really been enjoying our time in and around Cusco. After our first two days in the area, we spent the third day exploring more of the city, and the fourth day visiting a few sites on the way back to Ollantaytambo. Our first stop was Qorikancha, an impressive temple to the sun god that was the most important site in the Inca empire. It used to be covered with gold, but the Spanish pilfered all of it and built the convent and church of Santo Domingo on top of the site. In its current form, it's an interesting mix of huge Inca stone blocks and Spanish colonial architecture with Moorish influences.

Inca windows at Qorikancha

Church built on top of the ruins of Qorikancha

Plaza de Armas in Cusco

Coffee for Pablo!

Cuy (Guinea Pig) at the last supper - painting in the regional museum

There was a sudden downpour. The rain dropped the temperature by 25F for the rest of the day.

There are still lots of traces of the Inca throughout Cusco

Traditional dancing and music at Centro Qosqo de Arte Nativo

Plaza de Armas on a wet night

San Pedro market

Little kid eating breakfast by the market

On our way to Macchu Pichu, we went from Cusco north to the town of Ollantaytambo, stopping at several interesting sites. The scenery was spectacular. This was our first sunny day, and traveling on dirt roads across the rolling plateau above the sacred valley was breathtaking. Parts of it looked like mixes of the American West with Switzerland. We went to Moray, an Inca agricultural site. There are several large circular terraces. There's a big temperature difference between each terrace, which allowed different crops to be built on different levels - it's considered by some modern researchers to be an Inca agricultural research station that contributed to the thousands of different potato varieties in existence today.

Scenery near Moray

One of the smaller circular terraces at Moray

The main terraces of Moray

Floating steps so the Inca could walk between terraces

Crossing the high Plateau.

Our next stop was Salinas, which has been a salt collection site since pre-Inca times. An underground saline stream emerges from the mountain and is channeled into a series of dramatic shallow ponds that cascade down the mountain. When the water evaporates, the salt is collected. We walked around the site for a while, taking in the great views.

Salinas

Walking around Salinas

Salinas

More awesome high-elevation scenery

Watch out for animals in the road!

After descending to the city of Ollantaytambo (which is still at 9,160 feet above sea level), we wandered around town for bit before eating dinner and going to bed. Our hotel, the Tunupa Lodge, had a beautiful location right next to the river, and was easy walking distance to the train station and the town center.

Ollantaytambo main square, with Inca ruins on the mountain behind

Ollantaytambo has the most intact system of Inca streets

The moon and Venus in a long-exposure shot from Tunupa Lodge Hotel

The Sacred Valley is an awesome place - we've loved every minute of our stay here!

Cusco and the Sacred Valley: Part 1

We've arrived in Cusco, the capital of the Inca Empire and a UNESCO world heritage site. We rented an apartment to serve as a base from Sunday through Friday to explore this region of Peru. The apartment is fantastic - we highly recommend using websites like airbnb or vrbo while traveling abroad.  Our apartment has two bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room, a washer and dryer, and it even comes with a local cell phone. Also, there is a woman, Jackie, who comes and makes us breakfast every morning. There's way more space and it's cheaper per night than a hotel.

When we arrived Jackie made us some coca tea, which is supposed to help with altitude sickness. Cusco is over 11,000 feet above sea level, so some travelers get "mountain sickness."  Paul and David brought some altitude sickness medicine from the States, Chris and Stephanie decided to wing it.  No one got sick from the altitude, but we took it easy the first day or so.

Coca Leaf Tea in our apartment

After settling in, we decided to take a walk through town. We walked up to the main plaza (Plaza de Armas) and wandered around the city center. Cusco is a very cute city. It reminds us of a Spanish city; it's very different from Lima. There are a lot of great sweeping views to the surrounding mountains (at least when it's not raining). We visited the chocolate "museum" and a museum about medicinal plants of the region. After walking around some more, we ate a late lunch at a restaurant called Trujillo, then went back to the apartment to rest up for the next day.

Qorikancha & Iglesia Santo Domingo

Look, Mom!  David and Christina are an ice cream here!

Lots of cute courtyards in Cusco

The Museo de Plantas Sagradas, Magicas y Medicinales has an exhibit about Coca Cola!

Black quinoa

Every street vendor could spot Christina from a mile away...

Whee!!! Plaza de Armas!

Inca statue in Plaza de Armas

Paul enjoying a beer

On Monday, we had a guided excursion that took us to two of the historic Inca sites in the sacred valley, and to an animal rescue center and a local market. Our guide, Fabricio, was awesome. He was very knowledgeable and spoke excellent English. The Sacred Valley is beautiful. It's a narrow strip of green following the Rio Urubamba, with huge mountains rising on both sides. Clouds and fog made the view even more dramatic.

Cusco from above

Our visit to the Cochahuasi animal rescue center was interesting. We saw a lot of unique Peruvian species, including Andean condors, pumas, and vicuña. The center cares for animals that couldn't survive in the wild due to injuries or being born in captivity.

Macaw at the rescue center

David feeding a Llama

Andean Condor.

Making tapestries by hand from alpaca wool

Our first view of the Sacred Valley.  Beautiful!

The first Inca site we visited was Pisac. It's a hilltop fortress with impressive agricultural terraces cascading down the mountain. It was a strategic site that guarded a pass leading to the Amazon jungle on the other side of the mountain. There's also several thousand tombs, all of which were raided long ago. We also visited the adjacent colonial town of Pisac, which had a large market... plenty of shopping opportunities for Christina and Stephanie!

Inca agricultural terraces at Pisac

Fabricio explaining an Inca bath at Pisac

Enjoying an Empanada in the town of Pisac

We drove about an hour to the town of Urubamba, where we stopped for lunch at Muña restuarant. Muña has its own greenhouses and prepared all of its dishes from local  ingredients.  Lunch was buffet style and included a variety of vegetables, meats, potatoes, bread and desserts.  Guinea pig (cuy) and alpaca were both on the menu, and David, Paul and Christina all tried them.  The cuy wasn't great, but the alpaca just tasted like beef.

Peruvian buffet lunch.  The green stuff is cuy (guinea pig). 

Our final stop of the day was the town and Inca site of Ollantaytambo. It's been continuously inhabited since the 13th century. There are terraces and some giant stone blocks on top that formed the Inca fortress. The site was never finished because the Spanish conquered the city before the stonework was completed.

Incan site of Ollantaytambo

Overlooking the town from the top of the ruins

Ollantaytambo

Inca doorway built to slant inward for extra stability during earthquakes

View from our drive back to Cusco

Highest point of the day! The second highest we've ever been.

Back in Cusco, we decided to give Chifa another chance since there was a nice-looking place right next to our apartment. The pork in tausi sauce was delicious. The lime chicken was a little weird.

Attempt two at Chifa at a place right near our apartment.  Much better!

We have another day in Cusco, then a day visiting a couple more Sacred Valley sites on our way back to Ollantaytambo, and finally Machu Picchu!