Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu was AMAZING!!!

I admit it was a bit exhausting getting there...an overnight flight through Lima to Cusco including a 5 hour layover where we tried to doze a bit in the airport chapel (not fun esp. with a baby), a 30 minute bus ride to the train station, a 3 hour train ride to the town of Aguas Calientes (but through beautiful scenery), a 20 minute bus ride up switchbacks, then finally we were there!

This great ancient Inca city is just as incredible in person as it is in pictures. Actually, it's more incredible because you can see so many mountains surrounding it. Not only were we up high (Machu Picchu is actually lower elevation than Quito though), but we could see WAY down the steep mountains to the valley and river below! And we could also see snow-peaked mountains in the distance. The ruins are so impressive! It's just so amazing that the Incas really built this great, enormous city of huge stones on the top of a mountain. It's still a huge mystery exactly how they did it.

When we got there we went on a two hour guided tour, then we had the rest of the afternoon to explore on our own. People are free to just explore and wander at their leisure. There are so many places to sit and relax too, pretty much the perfect place to do so. The weather was perfect and sunny for us. While exploring we came across several llamas as well as a Viscacha, which is in the chinchilla family. It was a cute little thing, it looked like a cross between a rabbit and a squirrel.

The following day we went back to explore a little more before we had to take the train back to Cusco. Josh and his dad decided to hike Huayna Picchu, the peak you see in all the famous pictures. Only 400 people are permitted to hike it each day (that seems like a lot, but there are so many more people that visit each day) so they had to catch a bus at 4:30am to ensure they had a ticket to climb it. They were able to see the sun rise behind the mountains and they said it was cool to see the sun rays hitting all the peaks then everything started to glow. The hike was pretty steap uphill, but at the top they had awesome views of Machu Picchu, and I like the way it looks from the different perspective.

After the boys hiked Huayna Picchu, Josh's mom and I hiked all the way up to Inti Punku, or the Sun Gate. It's up on the mountain next to Machu Picchu, about 45 minute hike along the Inca Trail from Machu Picchu. Again, more great views. You can see Huayna Picchu behind my head in the picture.

This really was the experience of a lifetime!! And how lucky is this kid, he's not even a year and had already been to Machu Picchu! Too bad he won't remember it. Next time Josh and I go, we plan to hike the Inca Trail to it! What an awesome 4 day hike that would be!!!!