Our whole trip was "ruined"

I apologize to those who religiously check this page and find that it's not updated. But even though my blog has been idle for weeks, I haven't been.  This past weekend I traveled to Cusco, Peru. It was an experience I will never forget.  For those of you who don't know, Cusco was once the capital of the Inca Empire and just outside the city (and by "just outside" I mean "a four or five hour trip by car and train) is the most visited ruin site: Machu Picchu. Ever heard of it?

I'd be lying if I said getting to Machu Picchu was simple. To actually get to Machu Picchu from Cusco you can choose from three options. One being walking - you can hike the Inca Trail from a town called Ollantaytombo (Oh-yan-tay-tome-bo). However, if you can't afford this option or simply don't want to spend 5 days hiking and camping, you can either take a train the entire way there from Cusco, or take the least expensive route and take a hand full of taxis, vans, a train and a bus to finally arrive at the famous site.

So, being college students with a limited amount of "plata" we chose the latter. I'll spare you the minute logistics but here's the gist of what we did. Plane to Cusco --> Van to Ollantaytombo (1.5 hrs away) --> Morning train to Aguas Calientes (town below Machu Picchu 2 hrs away) --> Bus up to Machu Pucchu (30 min). Now that you've got that memorized I can go on.

This picture was taken from Ollantaytombo on the side of a mountain we weren't supposed to climb. Oops. It overlooked the town and hey, it was free, unlike the ruins that you can see in the background of this picture.  The town streets were completely cobblestone and it was really fun exploring the different alleyways. After spending a day hiking and climbing we felt prepared for the next day at M.P.

We got up early to catch our train that goes through the beautiful Sacred Valley to Aguas Calientes.  There we took a bus up to Machu Picchu and we arrived by about 9 am. So from 9 to 5 we were exploring the old citadel. (We literally were the last ones out of the site when it closed).

We hiked up Machu Picchu Mountain (where this picture was taken). It was a difficult hike and took about an hour and fifteen minutes. All in all - totally worth the blood, sweat, and tears.  At the top I could not get over how beautiful it was.  Seeing the ruins down below was amazing, but I was more impressed with the natural beauty.  Don't get me wrong, the ruins were great and I understand that the Incas were ahead of there time (not compared to European standards at the time) but I have a greater appreciation for the things that weren't made with human hands.  After having a little quiet time up there with the Good Book we hiked down and spent the rest of the time exploring the ruins.

One of the THE coolest experiences of my life happened as I was meandering through Machu Picchu. I was minding my own business when all the sudden another tourist says, "Hey come look at this!".  I walk over to him and I see he's looking at a tarantula about 2 feet away taking on a wasp the size of my finger. Now, I don't know if you've ever seen my fingers, but they're about 2 times longer than normal size fingers.

This wasp was HUGE!

So as the tarantula was struggling with this wasp, out of nowhere a lizard comes out and bites the tarantula.  So I'm here watching a lizard biting a tarantula who's biting a wasp. If that's not nature at it's finest I don't know what is.

The next day we went to Pisac.  This is a town outside of Cusco that has a big market for tourists and some more pre-Columbian ruins.  We were pretty sore from the day before but that didn't stop us from hiking for an hour and a half down from the ruins back to the town.  We got lost a couple of times on the way back but we were able to blaze our own trail and eventually made it back alive.

This picture of the Plaza Regocijo was taken from the balcony of the Chocolate Museum in Cusco where I was drinking the best hot chocolate I've ever had.  Don't let the picture fool you. It may look nice and hot, but the temperature at night got down to 36 degrees Fahrenheit!

I have more stories about the trip and I will have plenty more when I go again with my family, but this is all I can blog for now. Chau!