Over the past few days it seems like we have been to every corner of Peru on every mode of transportation possible! Since arriving in Cusco a couple days ago we have toured the city, Incan ruins and the Catedral. On Monday, the 27th, we left at what seems to be our favorite time-530 am- to head to the bus station to travel to Aguas Calientes. The city is tucked between the soaring peaks of the Andes mountains and sits next to the Urubamba River. We arrived in Aguas and boarded yet another bus to head up the mountain. A few days ago there was a rockslide that blocked the road from reaching the peak of Machu Picchu! So half way up the mountain, we had to climb past the rockslide to take the second bus the rest of the way to the peak! The hike in the 6,000 foot altitude was well worth the view. Pictures and words could never describe the views that we experienced on a peak that felt like the top of the world. The air was crisp and clear and we were lucky enough to have a clear morning to be able to see the ruins and the surrounding peaks! After a few hours of touring, learning about the history of this sacred place and taking large quantities of photos we headed back to the city. Our hotel was once again amazing, with rooms that had views of the river, jungle and mountains. The rest of our night was spent as a group experiencing local food, enjoying the shopping and soaking in our surroundings.
Tuesday, the 28th, was our exploration day! …or a day strictly for shopping. The shopping was great and a few of us got quite good at bartering!! Alpaca blankets and jewlery ended up being top choices for a lot of people. Our day ended with about 7 hours of traveling back to Cusco. We were all set to board the train when we found out a rockslide had occured on the tracks and that we would be delayed until that could be cleaned up! Once on our way, we had a slow train ride that was spiced up by a fashion show put on by the train attendants! Dancing in the aisle and modeling some of the native clothes helped us pass the time! Once the train ride ended, we quickly boarded the bus for a nice, bumpy ride back to Cusco. We ended our travels by taking yet another bus to our hotel- which we will be staying in for more than 24 hours!! A meal was waiting for our motion sick bodies and many called it an early night!
Tomorrow entails a tour of more Cusco ruins and just to enjoy the day! We will be flying to Lima on Thursday morning. By then we are hoping to acclimate to this lovely altitude of 11,000 ft and try to avoid the terrible bug bites that we have all been accumulating.
Chao!
McCartney Renn