After an extremely busy week in Cusco, I was happy to sleep in on Saturday morning, and start my morning with a wonderful yoga class. I ended up going to a “gringo” yoga studio, meaning that the class was in english, and it was exactly what I needed to start the weekend. After yoga, Ryan and I met up for lunch before wandering around Cusco, doing some cafe hopping, and visiting a bookstore with english books. We cooked dinner, and then proceeded to enjoy one last night in our apartment, taking advantage of the excellent wifi! The following day, we went for brunch, packed up, and moved our stuff over to Eco Packers Hostel, where I had stayed on my last trip in Peru.
Once we were settled in at our hostel, we made our way to the Chocolate Museum for a chocolate workshop. Although I had also done this before, I was more than happy to spend a bit of money to make some chocolate. The first part of the workshop was dedicated to the explanation and the making of the chocolate, and then after trying a few different types of hot chocolates, we were given molds to make our own chocolates. After lunch, Ryan and I did some grocery shopping for our Machu Pichhu trek, and then made our way to Loki Hostel for our trek briefing. I was originally a bit weary about booking a trek through a party hostel, but our group and our guided turned out to be great. We were doing a 4 day Inca Jungle Trek with a group of 5 French people, an American couple from California, and an American guy from Washington DC who we had met previously in Mendoza (complete fluke!).
That night we enjoyed a delicious, albeit expensive, dinner at Greens Organic (a must splurge in Cusco!) before heading to bed early in preparation for our trek the following day. We met up with the group and our guide, Elvis, at 6:30am the next morning at Loki. After receiving a briefing, we took the van about an hour and half to the beautiful town of Ollyantaytambo in the Sacred Valley. As we weaved our way down the mountain and into the valley, I was in awe of the majestic lush mountains surrounding us. The valley is quite beautiful, and I can definitely understand why the Inca’s decided to stay there. We took a quick break for breakfast and the bathroom, before heading another hour to the starting point for our biking. Being that this was my second big biking expedition on this trip, I was feeling like a pro. Although slightly less scary than the Death Road in Bolivia, this biking definitely got my heart going as we ripped down the mountain, weaving around corners, and staying well away from the edge of the road that plunged down further into the valley.
We biked for 2-3 hours before we made it half an hour outside of the tiny town of the Santa Maria. We took the transport the rest of the way, enjoyed lunch, and then headed to our accommodation for the night. Although it was basic, it was better than sleeping in a tent! We spent the rest of the afternoon down by the river relaxing, before making our way back up to change for dinner. With another early start, our entire group headed to bed around 9pm. The following mornining, we headed for breakfast at 6:30am, and began trekking shortly after 7am. Within minutes of heading up the mountain, I was sweaty and short of breath. Fortunately, we stopped for frequent breaks to take in the amazing scenery of the valley, learn about the local flora and flauna, learn about the coffee making process in the area, and of course learn about the Incas who once ruled this area.
We hiked for about 4 hours before we stopped for lunch and a bit of a break, before continuing another 2 hours to Santa Teresa. Near the end of the hike, we had to cross the river by a tiny pull cart, which had just enough room for 2 people to sit cross legged in. Once we were in the cart, a nice Peruvian man on the other side of the river pulled us across. Apparently this is cheaper than building a bridge. After walking another half an hour, we made it to Santa Teresa, where we had the opportunity to enjoy an amazing hot springs. It was very welcomed after a full day of tough hiking! Once again, we had a relaxing evening in preparation of another early morning the following day.
We started our morning the next day with zip lining and canopy. I have zip lined before in Mexico, but I was looking forward to doing it again, and this one was definitely worth it. We did 5 huge zip lines, whizzing over the river valley. After the first zip line, my adrenaline kicked in and I spent the other 4 zip lines extending my hands and legs, spinning around, and tipping my head back in joy. Once we had finished our 5 zip lines, we made our way across an incredibly shaky canopy bridge. As it rocked back and forth and I made slow steps from one small wooden plank to the next, I told myself that this would be my last canopy bridge. It was definitely more of an uncomfortable experience than an enjoyable one.
From the zip line, we drove about 20 minutes, where we dropped in the middle of no where to begin our trek for the day. We had about 3 hours of trekking to do, but most of it was flat, following the train tracks around Machu Pichhu mountain to the town of Aguas Calientes. As we walked, we learned about the initial discovery of Machu Pichhu by explorer Hiram Bingham in 1911. The story goes like this: on his way back from searching out the last Inca city, he stopped by a local home to purchase Inca pottery. When he asked the man where he got the pottery he pointed to Machu Pichhu mountain, offering to take Bingham up there for only 1 sole. And to imagine that thousands of tourists spend nearly 150 soles each day to visit the mountain now!
Upon reaching Aguas Calientes, we felt relieved to have made it, exhausted from the last 3 days, and excited for what was to come the following day. Aguas Calientes was exactly as I remembered it – the Main Street divided on two sides around the river, built up on either side, instead of out. The town is filled with souvenir shops, tourist restaurants, and artisan markets. After checking in and getting settled, we headed out to grab a drink and a snack with our American friends, cheers to almost making it to Machu Pichhu. Our entire group decided to hike up the mountain the following day, so after stocking up on snacks and water, we went to bed extremely early (9pm).
My alarm going off at 3:45am of course came way too quickly, but I was excited for what was to come that day. We walked for half an hour to the entrance to the park, and were some of the first people in at 5am. We immediately began the ascent up to Machu Pichhu, and although I had heard this was hard, I had no idea how hard. Fifty minutes up very steep stairs at an altitude of approximately 2,400m above sea level is not easy. I was tomato red, and drenched with sweat by the time I got to the top. Fortunately, we had some time to kill waiting for the sun to rise once in Machu Pichhu. We immediately headed to the “postcard viewpoint” to get ready for the sun to rise. While we waited, we all took turns taking the token Machu Pichhu photo. Once the sun had risen over the mountains, we made our way around the ruins, learning about the different temples, windows, religious areas, how the stones were created, etc. There are many theories around Machu Pichhu, including that it was a religious temple, or that it was a university. Due to the different types of stone work there, it is believed that the Inca’s discovered a pre-Incan civilization and built around that. Regardless of what happened, it is amazing to explore and see these magical ruins. After our guided tour, we bid Elvis a farewell and headed out to eat before attempting to hike anymore. From there, we hiked up to the sun gate, where the classic Inca Trail hikers get to enter. The view from there was amazing, and I can only imagine how incredible it would be get a first glimpse of Machu Pichhu from there. Although we didn’t get to hike the Inca Trail, we at the very least got to stand on it briefly!
We made our way down from the Sun Gate, took a few more photos, and called it a day, taking the bus back to Aguas Calientes in a state of satisfied exhaustion. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing, before catching an evening train back to Cusco. For the second time in my life, Machu Pichhu took my breath away, and I went to sleep that night feeling thankful for my experiences.
My Love Affair with Travel 