Machu Picchu

I have traveled to many different U.S. cities and a few foreign countries. I love to travel, but still, there are many exotic places in the world that I would love to see. I just wonder if I will ever get the chance. Machu Picchu was one of those places. That is, until I started taking Spanish classes and met my current girlfriend. She is originally from Peru but is now a U.S. citizen and a professor at a major university.

We were planning on going to Peru to visit her family in Lima but I realized that that this was a great opportunity to finally experience Machu Picchu. We found a great company to plan our visit to Lima, Cusco and Machu Picchu. PeruForLess.com planned our visit from beginning to end and did an excellent job.

Lima was our first stop. We landed at the airport around 11pm. On our way from the airport to the house that we were staying at, the first thing that I noticed about Lima was the drivers. They drive very fast and very reckless. Anyone that complains about American drivers should take a trip to Lima and see how bad the driving experience is there. The drivers would rather crash into another car than to let that car cut ahead of them in their lane. I'm just glad that I didn't have to drive while I was there.

Other than the drivers, I loved the city of Lima. Some sections reminded me of Times Square in New York while other sections reminded me of Southern California. The part that reminded me of Times Square had a rotary that was busy with traffic. It was lined with office buildings and department stores. It also had a lot of fast food places including a McDonalds.

The section of Lima that reminded me of Southern California was the outdoor mall. It was located on the top of a cliff and overlooked the Pacific Ocean. I really enjoyed the day that we spent there. As we ate in the restaurant in the mall we could look down below and see surfers riding waves.

We only had one day to enjoy Lima. The following day we had to wake up at 3 a.m. to catch a taxi to bring us to the airport. Our flight to Cusco departed at 5 a.m. The flight from Lima to Cusco went by in a flash. This probably had something to do with the fact it that was only a 50 minute flight compared to our 10 hour odyssey from Boston to Lima the previous day.

I can still remember the excitement that we were feeling when we first entered Plaza de Armas in the center of town. Just visualizing the history that took place there so long ago. The beautiful Spanish architecture that still stands there in the form of the Cathedral of Cusco and the temple "La Merced," to name a few. The only downside of it is that the invading Spaniards destroyed the ancient Inca palace of Wiracocha in order to build these places of worship.

Every day that we were in the Plaza de Armas, there was a different parade to celebrate a different occasion, usually religious. Although the Plaza de Armas is grande, the rest of the streets in Cusco are very narrow and can only fit one car at a time. Though the streets are narrow, it is fun to walk along them and experience the way the citizens of Cusco lived 500 years ago. You feel like your thrown back in time, especially when you see llamas walking down the street. This is just as natural to the citizens of Cusco as seeing a dog walking down a city street is to an American.

Just outside Cusco is an Inca experience that you won't want to miss. The Sacred Valley of the Incas is one of the most historic Inca locations in the country. The valley contains many of the main Inca cities. Pisaq is one of the cities that is located in The Sacred Valley. It contains farming terraces that are still used to this day. Every Sunday it has a "handcraft market." This market is for both citizens and tourists alike. Tourists can buy some handmade crafts to decorate their homes and try food from a different culture. Citizens of the neighboring cities can buy and sell different types of food for their homes or restaurants. Besides the Inca farming terraces, Pisaq also contains many Inca ruins including military and religious. 

The one thing that you have to worry about when visiting Cusco is the altitude. It is 8000 feet above sea level. On more than one occasion a tourist was seen fainting due to a lack of oxygen.

Finally, the day that we were all looking forward to was here. We were on our way to Machu Picchu. Just getting to Machu Picchu is an experience in itself. There are two ways to get to there: the Inca Trail and the Hiram Bingham Train. The Inca Trail is a four day hike from Cusco through the rainforest to Machu Picchu. The Hiram Bigham Train is a three hour train ride from Cusco to Machu Picchu. I would have loved to have taken the Inca Trail but since I was only in Peru for eight days, I didn't have the time. I plan to go back one day to experience it. I loved the Hiram Bingham Train ride. Three hours flies by because there is so much to do and see. Just the scenery alone is worth the trip. A lot of the time you are on the edge on mountain facing the Andes mountains and the Urubamba River. After the waiters and waitresses serve food and drinks, they dress up in old peruvian styles and put on a show right down the aisle of the train. Very entertaining. Before you know it, the train ride is over and you are at Machu Picchu. But your not done yet. Machu Picchu is so high in the mountains that you have to take a 30 minute bus ride to get there. That is 30 minutes straight up. The bus goes back and forth, zig zagging along the edge of the mountain up to its peak. Very exciting but also nerve racking for some people. One mistake by the bus driver and the whole bus could go over the side of the mountain.

Machu Picchu is everything that you would expect it to be and more. While photos may give you a glimpse of how it is, you have to be there to really understand it. Just the location itself is extraordinary. It is so high up in the mountains, you can understand why it took so long to be rediscovered. The views are incredible. You can see for miles. When you think of an Inca King, this is where you would imagine one living.

From photos, all you see is houses made of rock. But if you understood how complex the structure is, you would be amazed. You would marvel at the stone work that is done without the help of concrete and is still so perfect that you cannot slip a piece of paper between the stones that make up the walls. As for the stones that were used to build Machu Picchu, they were brought to the site as giant boulders from another mountain miles away.  It's amazing to think of how the incas brought huge boulders many miles. up a steep mountain without the use of wheels.  

Each house had running water thanks to aquaducks that went through the whole city, coming from melting ice at the peak of another mountain. The city had farming terraces where the farmers grew corn and other vegetables for the Inca elite. Also, llamas lived, and still live, at Machu Picchu.

Machu Picchu was not just a vacation spot for the Inca elite. It was used by the most intelligent of the Inca for astological observation. The most impressive of the observation tools is the "Intihuatana," which was carved perfectly from a boulder. It was used to indicate the start of the Spring and Fall Equinox along with other hallowed periods. To this day, it still announces the dates of these occasions with precision.

Machu Picchu was used for religious ceremonies and contained temples. The most famous of these temples is "The Temple of the Sun." It is named as such because the sun was one of the Inca's most scared gods. The sun was so sacred to the Incas that human sacrifices were made to the sun god in these temples.

We stayed at Machu Picchu until the last bus back to the train station was leaving. We were there for over six hours but it flew by so fast. Our journey to Machu Picchu took nine hours by plane, 3 hours by train and one hour by bus. But it was well worth it.