Unfortunately, I had still been unable to book a flight to Cusco, so I had to go to the airport that night to get an expensive ticket, but I knew it would be worth it to not have to spend 45 hours on the bus! I found a really neat and cheap backpackers hostel near the airport and slept for a few hours before getting on a flight the morning of the 24th to Cusco. When I finally made it to into the town, I still couldn’t believe that I was actually there! My dream of Machu Picchu was getting closer and closer!
After a bit of confusion, I met up with the next couchsurfing host, Luis and we hiked about 20 minutes up the hill above Plaza San Blas to get to his sweet house-turning-rock climbing hostel!
After dropping my stuff off at Luis´s house, which is surrounded by ruins and a park, I hiked back down the hill to the main (and touristy) part of Cusco. The city is great to just meander around in and to make things even more exciting, there was a giant Christmas market going on in the Plaza de Armas. I made my way to the grand food market of Cusco and went a little crazy bargaining and talking to all the nice ladies working there. I ended up spending about $10 on supplies for three people for about a couple days and this saved us a lot of money because we could cook at Luis´s instead of paying ridiculous restaurant prices! On my way back to the house, a huge rainstorm hit. Unfortunately it didn´t let up much all afternoon, but by the time I got back to the house, Kelly and Lela, my friends from CIMAS last quarter, had arrived and they were just as wet as me! We spent some quality time hanging out and talking about our adventures since we´d split paths two weeks before.
As it was Christmas Eve and we didn´t have any plans, we accepted Luis´s invite to a couchsurfing Christmas party! Beforehand we found some lovely street food to tide us over in the Plaza San Blas, rice pudding for me, and hot wine for Lela! Luis also showed us around Cusco a bit, which is gorgeously lit up at night. At about 9 pm we got to the party and the turkey was still not quite ready, so we chatted with the others there, including people from Argentina, Barcelona, Brazil, Cusco, Lima, San Francisco and even West Seattle! We spent the night eating a turkey dinner, talking in Spanglish, laughing, singing, toasting and dancing until 3 am. It was definitely a much different Christmas Eve than I was used to, but filled with new friends and good fun all the same!
The very International Christmas Eve Dinner!
On Christmas Day we woke up a bit later because of the crazy party the night before, but we eventually cooked breakfast and headed into town. While there we saw a few churches and organized a Machu Picchu trip though a tour agency. Afterwards we went back home to cook lunch and relax. Just as it was getting dark we walked though some maze-like ruins literally across the street from the house! Once again down in the center of Cusco, we met up with some CS friends from the night before and we checked out a little bar called Indigo.
Later at night we had another nice Christmas dinner, this time with two girls who were in the U of Minnesota CIMAS program and 5 friends that they met at their hostel. We went to a fairly fancy restaurant and I treated myself to a delicious meal and an incredible chocolate-blueberry cake a la mode for dessert! Afterwards we hung out in their comfy hostel and compared travel adventures.
The following day we planned our own hike and set out on a chicken bus to the town of Chinchero following a resupply trip at the market. It was raining hard when we started, but after our lunch break under the eave of a house, it got so sunny and beautiful that we decided to hike all the way around Laguna Piuray, before getting back to the main road and catching a nauseating bus to Cusco. We did a little preparation for our trip to Machu Picchu and then went home to cook veggies and quinoa and sleep!
Laguna Piuray in the Sacred Valley
On the 27th we started our 2-day trip to and tour of Machu Picchu. Directly after breakfast we went to the tour agency that we booked through and from there we took a taxi to get to Ollantaytambo, a town in the Sacred Valley. We had a little time before our train left, so we walked around the town, saw the ruins and got ice cream. The train ride to Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu town) was gorgeous and the surrounding mountains were lit up by the sun, meaning that once we got off about a 1000 meters below the level of Cusco, it was nice and warm outside! We had to walk through a giant, overwhelming artisanal market to get to our hostel, which indicated that we were entering tourist-land. In the afternoon we hiked around a bit and found a butterfly sanctuary and a trail leading up a hill with a ladder that was broken and unclimbable.
When we got back in the small town filled with travelers and expensive prices, we checked out the market and went out to dinner. At night we relaxed in our hostel room and right before bed, we met up with our guide for Machu Picchu and the other tourists who´d be with us the next day. This part of the group had not come by train, but rather by car the whole way, which is much more dangerous and after talking to some of them, we were very glad that we hadn’t run into rockslides nor had to walk for 3 hours in the dark along train tracks to get to Aguas Calientes!
Train headed to Aguas Calientes
Plastic bottle Christmas Tree in the main plaza of Aguas Calientes
View of Aguas Calientes from our hike
On the day of our Machu Picchu tour, we woke up at 4:15 am in order to buy our shuttle bus tickets at 5 am and catch one of the first buses and enter the site when it opened at 6 am. It was a bit foggy in the morning while we went on a 2 hour tour with our guide and about 8 people total, but by midmorning it was starting to clear up and we hiked for 3 hours to the Grand Caves and up Wayna Picchu for great view of the famous Inca site. On the way back down we met a man who lives on a houseboat on Lake Union and is traveling with his wife and two young daughters…what a coincidence to run into another Seattleite! We headed back to the entrance to grab our lunch (they said food was prohibited, but it seemed like we were the only people who didn’t bring it in, so we were starving!) After feeling rejuvenated and with the weather improving by the minute, we went back into Machu Picchu to check out the Inca Bridge and do some more wandering on our own. It wasn’t until after 4 pm that we left and overall we had a stupendous day in Peru´s famous World Heritage Site! We hiked back down to Aguas Calientes in about an hour, then shared a pizza overlooking the river and killed a few house before catching our train and later a combi back to Cusco. We didn’t end up getting back to Luis’s until 3 am, but it was very worth it to get to spend over 10 hours at Machu Picchu!
A very misty morning at Machu Picchu
Looking down on the site from the entrance
In the morning, while it was still a little cloudy
View from Wayna Pichhu
The stereotypical perfect Machu Picchu picture!
We couldn't leave without taking many jumping photos!
Lela's spitting out a rainbow!
December 29th was mainly a recovery day after our Machu Picchu craziness, so we took it easy. We walked to the bus station so Lela and Kelly could buy tickets to get back to Lima on January 2nd after a 20-hour ride. We also stopped by the market again for more food to cook at Luis’s and at night we were all feeling very tired and a little sick, so we went to bed very early.
On the 30th we were back to feeling our finest, so we signed up for a day-long bike tour of the nearby town of Maras and also some ancient salt mines. We were set up with nice Scott single suspension mountain bikes and a guide to show us the way. We had to ride a bus for an hour to get to the start of the trail, but once there we followed dirt roads through the mountains, catching glimpses of snow-covered peaks around us. We stopped for a traditional Peruvian lunch in Maras and talked to our other two biking companions, a brother and sister from Lima. The rest of the ride was almost completely downhill and the highlight was definitely passing by Las Salineras! They are pre-Inca salt collection pools built into the hillside above the Sacred Valley. After more intense downhill biking, we ended up in Urubamba and we boarded a bus headed towards Cusco. On the ride back we spotted quite a few massive snowy peaks and since we were already above 10,000 ft, they must have been super high! We also got off the bus a few miles before entering Cusco, and we followed out guide down some zigzag streets that eventually plopped us right down in the Plaza de Armas! For dinner we tried out one of the Hare-Krishna-run vegetarian restaurants called Govinda, a nation-wide Peruvian chain! I found it quite hilarious that the Hare-Krishnas have been so successful in Peru, but their food was actually very good and cheap! We also met a young Czech traveler there who considered all of South America “a very dangerous place for young women to travel”…and we said pshaw to that! Afterwards we walked into a dessert dungeon and Kelly was highly amused while trying to explain the concept behind a Fanta float. She ended up getting a chocolate chip ice cream cone and a bottle of Fanta! Then we drug our weary legs the 20 minutes up the hill once again to sleep.
Las Salineras salt pools that are still used today
Biking downhill with our guide and a friend from Lima
People watching the sunset on the steps of the Cathedral in Cusco
On our last full day in Cusco we decide to explore some of the ruins near our CS house. Luis and Eddy pointed out the Monkey Temple and a few others that we walked around in the morning. For lunch we explored the street food option in and around the market, including cheese empanadas, chocolate cake, fruit smoothies and a lady with a hot cart of sweet tamales! In the afternoon we relaxed in one of Cusco´s many plazas and after a failed attempt at a yoga class, we hiked up to Sacsayhuamán (pronounced “Sexy Woman”), apparently the second best set of ruins after Machu Picchu in the entire area. We caught a gorgeous sunset at the Jesus statue overlooking Cusco and then descended once again into town for awesome falafel pitas. While waiting for midnight to come, we hung out and played games in the Indigo Bar. At about 11 pm we went out into the plaza and were bombarded by people, fireworks going off in the street everywhere and a Peruvian band playing. As the clock struck midnight, I couldn’t believe that another year had passed and that I was in Peru!
Cuy Asada (Roasted Guinea Pig), anyone?
Drinking jugos in the market
Another beautiful Cusco street
"Sexy Woman" ruins
Sunset from the Jesus statue overlooking the city
Plaza de Armas concert before midnight on New Years Eve
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