The main reason we came to Peru!!

Today, we woke up really early around 4 am to catch the early train to Machu Picchu. The train ride was about 3.5 hours, and passed through some of the nicest scenery, with the Andean Mountains on both sides.

We reached the town of Aquas Calientes around 10, and quickly went to the hostal to drop off our bags. We headed straight for the bus for a 20 minute ride to Machu Picchu itself. Again, this was one of those places that you think before hand, will it be over rated?, will it live up to its reputation? Well it did and more...

Once in, we headed for the first left, as the guidebook says, to climb about 10 minutes to the most popular viewpoint. Here you have a complete view of the whole lost city, and both our cameras worked over time, as we took about 1 gig of pics!!! lolol

There is also this really cool hike to the Inca Bridge, which was actually closed a few years back, when a tourist fell to their death. The hike was about 1 hour in total, and really worth it, as you hike right on the cliff side, with approx. 1000 ft drop down to the valley and river below.

When we first reached Machu Picchu, it was mainly sunny, but towards the afternoon, you could hear and see thunderstorms past the mountains in the background. Really cool stuff!!

We also explored the ruins walking around the many small alleyways and climbing the Inca steps. There were some llamas there, and we tried to get some in our pics with Machu Picchu in the background, but they weren't as cooperative as we liked.

As we were leaving, we stopped at the park office, to get this really cool and unique Machu Picchu stamp in our passports.

Right now we are relaxing back in the town of Aquas Calientes. We will probably walk around a bit before calling it a night, since we have to wake up really early tomorrow, for another visit to Machu Picchu. We will post pics once we return.

Adios from Machu Picchu the Lost Inca City!!! until tomorrow...

Shopping, walking and shopping!!

Today was more of our down day, as we didn't have anything important planned. We did pick-up our train tickets to Machu Picchu for tomorrow, and also picked up our bus tickets and entrance tickets. We leave really early tomorrow, as around 5 am for the train to Aquas Calientes, which is the little town close to Machu Picchu. We are pretty excited!!

We ended up walking around the town all day today, and bought some art. With the many hills, steps in Cusco, we are getting giant calves! lol That combined with the altitude, it seems like we are training for the Olympics...The gringo walking and shopping event...it's a new event...no medal though!!!

We also passed by this little bakery near our hotel, and like always, bakeries never disappoint in foreign countries. They had some awesome local food and at local prices.

Depending on the internet connection in Aquas Calientes, we may not post tomorrow at all. Hopefully we still can...

We will have 2 full days for Machu Picchu, which was one of the main reasons we came to Peru.

Hasta mañana mis amigos, tenga algunas hojas de coca!! :)

Perfect stone work, a dead woman and alpaca meat!!

Saying that today was a action packed and long day would be an under-statement. We woke up at 5 am and went for breakfast, and then left for our trip to the Sacred Valley which is nestled in between the Andean Mountains, following the Urubamba River.

We first stopped at Sacsayhuamán which is about a 20 minute drive from Cusco. It lies at an altitude of 3,701 metres. The stonework here is truly the best example of Inca stone construction. The perfect blocks and stones, some weighing over 200 tonnes, with perfect round corners, make this style of Inca Temple, almost indestructible to any major earth quake. This is the place where they still have the famous festival June 24, called the Inti Raymi and it celebrates the Winter Solstice. The Spanish of coarse, took many of these giant stones to build some of the churches in Cusco.

Off to the Sacred Valley...but getting there was tough, as there have been major protests and strikes by the farmers in this area. The government wants to privatize the small creeks and streams, and charge huge taxes on these poor farmers. They blocked many of the roads with large boulders and rocks. We were lucky since the protests ended yesterday, but all the debris is still on the roads, which already aren`t the safest or widest roads, which hug the cliffs of the mountains, with over 1000 ft drop. There is also a lot of broken glass, since if you tired to pass the protesters this past week, they would throw rocks at the cars and trucks passing by. The amount of glass, would suggest that Peruvians can be good baseball players.

The first place we visited was Pisac, which is the location of some amazing Inca agricultural terraces, hugging the Andean cliffs. It is right on the Urubamba River, and on the top of the mountain are 4 separate ruins. By this time in the day, which is late morning, the sun was already incredibly strong, and it took us about 1 hour to hike up the mountain. It sure wasn`t easy, as the high altitude was literally stealing every breathe we tried to take. In the end, the journey up was really worth it. We will post pics as soon as we return.

We also went to the famous market in Pisac, back down the mountain in the village. The market takes place on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. We ended up walking the many stalls both in the art & craft section and the food section. We did buy some really cool Inca, Andean and Peruvian souvenirs. Let`s hope we have room for them in our house. I think we already bought 4 masks!! lolol

After the market we took off to explore Ollantaytambo, which is dominated by the massive Inca fortress above the small village. There are huge steep terraces the guard the fortress, along with the beautiful Andean Mountains in the background. Another hard hike to the top, but again well worth the trip and lack of oxygen. There is also a small market at the bottom of the ruins. We opted to walk around the market for about 30 minutes, which ended up being even a better idea, since right after we left, about 5 minutes from the town, there was a huge accident, and we saw one car with a broken windshield. We thought it was hit by a falling boulder or rock. We were pretty shocked to see what really happened about 10 metres past that. The car had hit a woman, who was obviously dead on the side of the road...pretty gruesome sight, kind of one of those things that makes you think of life in general, and how much longer we all have!

We finally got back to the hotel in Cusco about 7 PM. We decided to go out for dinner, to this nice little restaurant about a 10 minute walk from our hotel. It is called Inca Fe...get it, Cafe, Inca Fe...hahahaha.... :) I had the Alpaca meat, which is an Andean Specialty, while Aneta got the chicken. The Alpaca meat was really good, so far my favourite dish in Peru.

Anyway, it is around 10 pm here, and we need to go to sleep...

So maybe tomorrow, I'll want to settle down. Until tomorrow, I'll just keep movin' on....

Guinea Pig and Elongated Skulls

Buenas tardes amigos!!

We had a long and exciting day, with visits to a couple of museums including Inca Museum and the Pre-Columbian Museum. Both were about a 15-20 minute walk up and down the many narrow white washed streets of Cusco. Both these museums were really good and each had a small shop that sold replicas of some of the Peruvian artifacts.

The Inca Museum had some elongated human skulls on display. The skulls are elongated because at an early age they would wrap ropes around the head to give them that form. It is like in the movie Indian Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls, except no crystal or Harrison Ford....so I guess not really like the movie at all!! lol

We also went to the biggest Inca site within the city of Cusco, which is called Qorikancha or the Temple of the Sun. It was first an Inca ruin, then when the Spaniards came, they built a church around it, called Igelsia del Santo Domingo. The Inca walls in the temple are amazing, they had no modern tools, but were still able to construct these walls and foundations... that have survived major earthquakes and many years of abuse. They fit perfectly, with no cement or anything holding them together, yet you can't even fit a piece of paper between each stone, they are that prefect. They also built them with larger bottoms and they get narrower as the height increases. This was to make them stronger and support each other.

We then hung out in the main square, Plaza de Armas, and we went to an early dinner, and yes I did have some guinea pig. Aneta stuck to more "normal" food. It was pretty good, kind of like game meat, with a lot of fat. The best is how they bring it to your table, it still has the full body, with the little feet with nails, and the head. The restaurant has wicked views over the plaza and the 2 main cathedrals and mountains.

Until tomorrow my friends, stay thirsty!!

P.S. Is there anything such as the guinea pig flu?

Inca Kola tastes like Banana poison!!!!

We are back from a full day of walking and checking out Cusco. We primarily went to the main 3 cathedrals, including the 2 at Plaza de Armas and the one at San Blas. We are now officially churched out!!! We also walked around the many small alleys and mazed streets, which have artist shops, jewelery shops and the trinket tourist shops.

The amount of tourists is increadible. Since the seasons are reversed, this is their fall, going to winter, which is high season, since it is the dry season. There are about 10 flights a day going from Lima to Cusco, and this time of the year, they are all booked up. We barely were able to get our tickets about 2 months ago.

It is really nice during the day, around 20-25 degrees, but it drops right away when it gets dark. It must be around 5 degrees right now.

Just got back from dinner, really good. Might try the cuy or guinea pig tomorrow....ummmm...

btw, in Peru they have this famous cola called Inca Kola, and let me tell you, that stuff is toxic. will stick to the coca tea!

Coca Tea and me!!

After a really long journey we finally arrived in Cusco. First thing we did is make ourselves some coca tea. As we sit here enjoying our coca, of course made from the leaves of the coca plant, I hope there are no drug tests when we come back to Canada... lolol

We are at Rumi Punku Hostel, which is built on original Inca walls, and has an original Inca door way, one of the only complete doors left in Cusco. This hostel is really cool and authentic. We are in a area called the neighnourhood of artists. Surrounding us are old homes with reddish clay roofs and white walls, with the Andean Mountains in the background.

One of our first impressions of Peru, are how friendly the people are, and very proud of their Inca roots. We are just relaxing now, and waiting for our altitude sickness to kick in, hopefully it doesn't happen. Either way we are on our second cup of coca tea and we feel greeaaaatttt!!!!

Adios Amigos!!!

Waiting for departure!!

It's Sunday, and we have just finished packing all our stuff into our ridiculously heavy backpacks!!
Nah, they're not that heavy, just heavy enough! ;)

We leave tomorrow May 18, in the afternoon, and when all is said and done, we will be at our first real destination Tuesday around noon. That will be Cusco, the heart of the Inca Empire.

We will post as much as we can while away, and it also will depend on access to internet, and in some case, access to electricity.

Let's get ready for some cuy or guinea pig, Inca Kola and some Pisco Sour!!!

As you say in Quechua and Spanish, Yusulipayki and Adios.