Machu Picchu

So I finally made it to Machu Picchu. I had been wanting to go there for years and years. I took a train from Cusco to Aguas Calientes. I spent the day in the town. It was pretty small and there wasn´t too much to do besides go to the hot springs, and go to a museum. The museum just had some text on the walls about Machu Picchu. There weren´t any real artifacts or anything. It just made me more impatient about getting to Machu Picchu.

The next morning, I met with the people from the trek I was supposed to be on at 4:30am breakfast at the hotel. There were two other American girls that did the trek. At 5am we lined up to get on the first buses up to Machu Picchu. There was already a huge line. As soon as we got there, we rushed to get tickets to climb Huanya Picchu, the mountain in the background. They give out tickets to the first 400 people.

After we got our tickets for climbing Huanya Picchu, we walked around a bit and waited for our guided tour. Unfortunately we had to leave the tour early because we had our tickets to climb Huanyu Picchu at 10am. The climb to the top of Huanyu Picchu was challenging. There were many steps, and some were pretty small, narrow, and steep. It was a little scary in some parts. It took a total of abot 1hr45min to go to the top and back. It was well worth it because the view of Machu Picchu from the top was amazing.

Okay, a few facts about Machu Picchu. It is 2,430 metres (8,000 ft) above sea level. It is often referred to as "The Lost City of the Incas". The Incas started building it around AD 1430 but was abandoned as an official site for the Inca rulers a hundred years later at the time of the Spanish Conquest. There are different theories as to why the city was abandoned. Luckily it was never found by the Spanish and consequently not plundered and destroyed, as was the case with many other Inca sites. An American, Hiram Bingham, discovered Machu Picchu by accident while trying to find another Incan city, Vilcabamba, in 1911. Since then, Machu Picchu has become an important tourist attraction. The terraces were the agricultural zones. Each level had a different microclimate and grew different crops. The rest of the areas were the urban areas that had plazas, temples, an astronomical observatory, towers, and fountains.

I spent a pretty long time there just thinking, ¨Wow. I can´t believe I´m finally here.¨

Getting to Cusco and getting sick

So before I went to Colca Canyon, I had heard there was a roadblock in a town called Sicuanui, which meant there were no buses running from Arequipa to Cusco. The town had been blocking the road for a while as a protest against the government. Protesting what? I have no idea. I had no idea how long the roadblock would be either, and I had to be in Cusco by a certain date. I had booked a trek to Machu Picchu and wanted to get to Cusco a few days before the trek to properly acclimatize.

I decided to book a flight to Cusco. I went to a travel agent and at first nothing was available except to fly to Lima and then to Cusco which would cost over $300. Luckily, out of the blue, while searching for flights, one seat opened up on a direct flight from Arequipa to Cusco. It cost about $140, which is a lot, but at least not $300+. So I was feeling pretty lucky at that point. But when I got back from the Colca Canyon tour I heard the roadblock was cleared for a few days. So I could have taken the bus after all. Well at least I´d save a little time by flying, right? Wrong. It turns out that the flight was overbooked. They ended up putting me on a flight to Lima, and then another flight from Lima to Cusco. It was a pain but they gave me a $90 voucher to fly with LAN again. There was also a couple from Denmark that had been in the same situation that I ended up hanging out with.

Well I finally got to Cusco. I was pretty tired from all the flying and waiting in airports. The altitude (3400m/11,150ft) in Cusco made be tired also. So for the first few days I was pretty out of it. I walked around Cusco like a zombie. I figured it was just because I had to get used to the altitude and in a few days I´d be fine. Well by the third day I still felt like crap. I had a sore throat also that couldn´t have been from the altitude. So on Sunday (28 June) I went to the clinic in town. I wanted to be sure I´d be okay for my 5 day trek. Well the doctor diagnosed me with tonsilitis. My tonsils were infected, and apparently I had a fever from it also. He prescribed me some antibiotics and told me to stay in bed at the hotel for 2 days.

That meant I couldn´t go on the trek! I didn´t book the Inca trail because you have to do that 4-6 months in advance. I didn´t know. I booked the Salkantay trek, which was named among the 25 best Treks in the World, by National Geographic Adventure Travel Magazine. It was a 5 day / 4 night trek, and the last day would be at Machu Picchu. But this trek was supposed to be really hard. Someone had told me that it was also known as the ¨Salkan-cry¨trek because it was so hard. You climb up to 6271m/20574ft!! Some nights you camp out on top of glaciers on Mt. Salkantay. So after thinking about it, I was kind of relieved not to do the trek. I kind of wanted to see how I´d handle a trek like this but maybe getting sick just meant I was not meant to do this kind of trek. I love to rock climb, but maybe trekking was not really my thing.

The tour operator (Llama Path) said I could join the rest of the group on the 4th and 5th day by taking the train to Aguas Calientes, and then Friday would be in Machu Picchu. So I still got to go!! And hopefully I will get refunded with my travel insurance for the trek.

Colca Canyon

24/25 June From Arequipa, I signed up for a 2 day tour of Colca Canyon. Colca Canyon is a canyon of the Colca River in southern Peru, located a few hours from Arequipa. It is more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon.
On the way to the Canyon we stopped by Pampas Cañahuas, a National Reserve where we saw Vicuñas & Alpacas. Unlike the Alpacas, Vicuñas are wild animals, and still can be seen running freely on these high plateaus.

After that stopped by a little restaurant where we had coca tea, to help with the altitude. We would be going to a lookout point that was 4,800m (15,748ft) high. From there you can see 6 different volcanoes. I don´t remember the names of them.




Later we went on a hike and saw the canyon. But it was not at its deepest point. We saw some ruins of some pre-incan homes on the side of the mountain and a small pre incan town.


That night we stayed in the main village of the Colca Canyon, the Village of Chivay (3600 m / 11.811 Ft). We got to go to the hot springs after the hike. And for dinner we enjoyed traditional Peruvian food with traditional music and dance perfomances.



The next day we stopped by this place so everyone can take this silly picture with an andean eagle on your head next to a llama.


After that we went to Cruz del Condor to view the Andean condors. It is a very popular tourist attraction that helps the area out with tourism. However the condors are pests to the locals. These condors are massive. Their wingspan is 3 meters. It was amazing to watch them fly through the canyon. This was the best part of this tour.



After watching the condors, we went on another hike. He showed us how the fruit of the colca cactus was used to make a popular drink, colca sour which is very good. Not as good as a pisco sour though in my opinion.

Arequipa

23-June

From Nazca I took an overnight bus to Arequipa. Arequipa is known as the ¨White City¨ because the city has many buildings built of sillar, a pearly white volcanic rock. As with any city in South America it seems, there is a Plaza de Armas, the main square.

There I met up with my friend Kim from spanish school in Quito. She unfortunatly had hurt her foot and was in a cast. She had to stay in Arequipa longer than she had planned. I went to visit her and we went to lunch. It was her first time outside of her hotel. She showed me the courtyards of La Compania.

I also did a tour of the Santa Catalina Convent. It was built in the 17th century. It looks plain from the outside. But inside it was beautiful - beautiful courtyards and tapestries.

On the tour we learned about the lives of the nuns - the simple room they had in training, the coffins for the poorer nuns that couldn´t afford a closed casket, the simple kitchen. Their beds were always under an arch. Arches were important structures for places that were prone to earthquakes. At one point in the tour we could hear the nuns over a wall playing volleyball.

Nazca

22-June.

After Huacachina, I went to Nazca, which was only a few hours away. From there you can take a 30 minute flight to see the Nazca Lines. The Nazca Lines are geoglyphs located in the Nazca desert that can only be viewed from the sky. It is believed to have been made between 200 BCE and 600 CE. Dark red surface stones and soil have been cleared away, exposing the lighter-colored subsoil, creating the "lines".

There are different theories as to why the lines were created. "The geometric ones could indicate the flow of water or be connected to rituals to summon water. The spiders, birds, and plants could be fertility symbols. Other possible explanations include: irrigation schemes, giant astronomical calendars, or landing for spaceships."

In the flight we saw a whale, trapezoids, an astronaut, a dog, a monkey, hands, a condor, a humming bird, a heron bird, a tree, a spider, and a parrot. Unfortunately my pictures didn´t turn out so great. But here are the ones that came out decent.

Man or Astronaut:

Monkey:

Spider: