Day Thirty-Four

Today was the day that we all waited for: MACHU PICCHU!!!! We started with a 4 am wake up call and 1.5 hour bus ride. From the bus we took an hour train ride. Then, we took a bus up the mountain from the train. Honestly, a part of me thought that we would fall off of the side of the cliff, but my bus buddy, the tour guide Jose, assured me we were safe. Jose was actually very talkative and told me all about the Incans and asked me about my life, going as far as to ask me to come back to Peru after I graduate so that I can help solve the water crisis. I said maybe.

As we drove up the mountains, it came into view and was positively stunning, I could not believe we were actually there, Machu Picchu. Pictures do not do it justice and there are no words to describe its beauty. Let’s just say that I now understand why it is one of the seven wonders of the world. 

We started with a two our tour, here is what I learned. A few Incans escaped to Machu Picchu during the Spanish invasion of Peru (and the mountains were closer to the gods/sun). They built the city from the bottom up, and about only 40% of the city is actually visible. There are many parts that were not restored after the professor from Yale discovered it in the early 1900s because they did not want to harm the surrounding flora and fauna (environmentally-cautious: my type of people). Apparently, only about 800 people lived in this city, and they ate a largely vegetarian diet because it was safer (side note: their poop resembled that of alpacas). The Incan, however, not only had hundreds of maidens, but he  had fresh fish delivered to him every day and had the only indoor bathroom in the city. The more you know. All throughout this tour, Jose made environmental comments and looked at me every time, I guess you could say we’re basically best friends now. Obviously, we also took many photo shoots: group, individual, polaroid, with banana, with ruby cube, with tattoo, you name it. 

After the tour a group of us tackled the supposed to be two hour hike (one hour each way) to la Puerta del Sol. I hate to brag but we accomplished the feat in a half hour. The view from the top was breathtaking. We looked down onto the city and the mountains that towered around it. We repeated our photo shoots and made some friends along the way, they were from Arkansas and knew how to solve a Rubix cube. We took our final photos and left the wonder of the world. Once we got to the town, we did some light shopping and got dinner. Then, we boarded the train where we were treated with a rather odd performance of a guy dressed as some sort of animal in a traditional costume who made weird noises and an alpaca fashion show. Then, we headed home and slept for four hours before rainbow mountain.