Peru!!

We recently took advantage of our close proximity and made our way to one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, Machu Picchu! Located in southern Peru, this amazing ancient site was a definitely a "must see" while here in South America.

To get there we had to fly to Cusco, Peru via the capitol city of Lima. We had been told Cusco was a nice city but we weren't expecting too much other then a place to stop on our journey to Machu Picchu. Fortunately, we were thrilled to discover that Cusco was an amazing site to be seen as well! We loved this colonial little mountain town located at nearly 12,000 feet above sea level (Quito is only 9,000 ft). It has a very quaint, old, European feel and was loaded with tourists from all over the world. Being in a tourist town has both pros and cons as it feels crowded but the tourism and hospitality industry is eager to please. Tons of people spoke english, the service was great, and we found longed for American places like Starbucks to enjoy!

 

 

   

 

We had an amazing dinner one night with our friends Graham and Judy who happened to be visiting Cusco/Machu Picchu at the same time as us. We ate some delicious Peruvian food including ceviche, alpaca, quinoa (Peru is the birthplace of this odd little grain) and their local drink the Pisco Sour. While asking our waiter more about Pisco, he offered to let us try it in the many flavors they serve, so off we went to do some shots!

 

The Pisco Sour is on the left, and the many other infused flavors are on the right including ginger, apricot, fig, tree tomato and jalapeno. Spencer and Graham tried them all. It was a ton of fun!

 

The next day we headed out for a bus tour of the Sacred Valley which leads to Machu Picchu. It is a beautiful valley that is dotted with small villages and lots of Incan sites similar to, but much smaller than, Machu Picchu.

 

  

 

  

  

Cool Peruvian mountain woman just chilling out. And another carrying her baby in the traditional style, slung over her back in a blanket. These cool women don't do strollers!

 

Eventually, we had to get onto a train to take us the rest of the way to Aguas Calientas, the town that sits in the foothills of the mountain that Machu Picchu sits atop. 

We had a low key night preparing for our visit early the next morning. Machu Picchu sits 1,200 feet above the town and Spencer decided to join Graham and Judy for the steep hike up at 5:00 am. I took the bus.

As expected, it is one of the New 7 Wonders of the world after all, Machu Picchu was AMAZING and AWESOME in every sense of the words. You don't see anything until you are almost in it, which is how it stayed so protected and untouched by the Spaniards that conquered the Incas 500 years ago. Once you round that last corner it renders you almost speechless in its magnificence and the shock that it is a city that was created on the peak of a mountain. The Incas were not lazy people!

 

 

 

 

  

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

It's hard to describe how cool Machu Picchu was. And, unfortunately, I don't feel like these pictures do it justice. It was truly awesome. Overall, we had a great time in Peru!