7/1/11-Friday…Machu Picchu:
So after basically no sleep, we got up early at like 4:45, the hostel cooked us breakfast and coffee which was awesome! (We only had to pay like $15 for all of this) Then we bundled up, with no rain jackets since we didn’t bring any, and headed out to take the bus up to Machu Picchu park in the rain. Thankfully they were selling cheap ponchos, which didn’t really work well. A girl from Australia, Anthea, traveling South America on her own tagged along with us all day. It rained ALL day long, and at first when we got there it was so cloudy and foggy in the mountains you couldn’t even see anything, so we were really bummed to have spent all that money and energy to get there. Thankfully, it began to clear up a little and the clouds and fog would come and go. Actually, the clouds around all the mountains and ruins made it seem even more magical to me, like a truly hidden city. The only downfall was the rain was so cold and we were soaked and miserable, I mean miserably cold all throughout our tour of the ruins that morning. We found a guide outside pretty cheap (like $10 a person) who was really good and walked us through all the ruins, explaining all of the history for almost 3 hours. Then we were so miserable we had to sit out of the rain for a few minutes and get some coffee at the café. Since the weather was so bad and visibility was not good we didn’t even bother to hike up Machu Picchu mountain, which was kind of a bummer. But, we ended up hiking up to the Sun Gate temple ruins, about an hour hike half way up the mountain, which has the typical postcard incredible views of the ruins from really far away. From there, the city of Machu Picchu is tiny, like you could hold it in your hands and the view of the surrounding mountains is the most incredible view I’ve ever seen. These are a different type of mountains because Machu Picchu is on the border of the high jungle. It truly looks like the floating mountains from Avatar, especially with all the fast moving floating clouds between them. They must have copied these mountains for that movie. It is truly mystical and magical. The crazy thing is even though about 4,000-5,000 people visit this top 7 wonders of the world site every day, when you hike up to sun gate it’s pretty much just you and it’s so so quiet. The Incans had built a stone path all the way up to this temple overlooking the city, which was an amazing path. It continued to rain off and on on us but it cleared up enough most of the way to have amazing views. People always say to see Machu Picchu in person is such an amazing experience because there is just so much energy there and I never really understood that. But it’s really kind of true, it’s amazing how smart the Incans were in how they constructed everything and it was really neat to learn about their religion and how the way in which they constructed and placed everything all had religious purposes. They worshipped all the powers of nature, but especially worshipped one supreme being, Pachamama, mother earth, which they saw in the form of a mountain, Huaynu Picchu in particular. I don’t blame them. If I lived in the setting they did I would probably depict God and see God in the breathtaking creation of the mountains surrounding their city as well. It really is a very spiritual place, creation at its finest and in its most natural form. Walking among these mountains or just sitting and looking out at them really does give you a sacred feeling. If I were to visualize Heaven in any physical earthly form, it would be a whole lot like this area. It’s just majestic. Yet at the same time throughout the day, we felt like we were in Hell we were shivering from being soaked, cold, and wearing soaking wet tennis shoes all day! It was funny because all the people we passed going up the trails I would automatically instinctively greet in Spanish, hola…Buenas…It was interesting because this was my first instinct even to all the non-Spanish speaking foreigners. I feel like I have become partially Peruvian and while in Peru I am Peruvian and should speak to everyone in Spanish. Plus, it’s kind of fun to fool people and confuse them on where the blonde girl is from! It’s also amazing how much has held up for so long. They say the Incans built Machu Picchu for about 500 residents around the beginning of the 15th century. It was then discovered by an American, Hiram Bingham, in 1911, which was cool because this year is the 100th year anniversary of it’s discovery. (really rediscovery—it was known about by a small village of natives in the valley of the mountain but nothing was done about it and it was all covered in vegetation…it wasn’t until Hiram Bingham arrived that he had it all uncovered and researched). I’ve always hated history, but even I found the tour and history of the Incans fascinating because it’s amazing what all we can know about their lives just from anthropologists investigating all the architecture.
After a tiring day exploring Machu Picchu, we headed back to Cuzco on the 3 pm train, where it was still raining. We had reservations at Pirwa Backpacker’s hostel in Plaza San Francisco, which turned out to be awesome!! By far the best hostel I’ve ever stayed at. The staff was awesome, so friendly, some spoke English. The people staying there were really nice and fun and it was just a cool place with a courtyard inside open to the outside and all the rooms around it (which made for a cold night though). They even had a little restaurant/bar upstairs and a hangout room, so we never even left the hostel for dinner or anything. Plus it was only $9 to stay there! We had a delicious pizza and Brazilian caipirana drink to warm up and thaw out. We were living out of only our backpack for these few days, so we were beginning to run out of dry clean clothes. We met all kinds of people on all kinds of treks around the world (from Israel, London, a cute couple from Texas!, Peruvian girls who work there, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, all over!) They always have activities there at night making it a fun hostel. The night we were there they had a dance class upstairs taught by some of the Brazilians staying there who were amazing dancers! (Calypso mostly) It was so much fun! We just had our own little party and danced and attempted to learn Calypso and other Brazilian dances and other people’s dances from all over, like the Mexicans, all night! We stuck together with the Texans making fools out of ourselves but having a great time trying! I love Peruvian music and dance. There is actually a style and skill to it unlike American grinding…I’m really going to miss it, I’m just going to have to find somewhere to Latin dance when I get back! It’s funny because now even when American music would come on we would find ourselves dancing with Latin moves and footwork even to normal music, haha it’s contagious you can’t get it out of your system! I have really enjoyed all the hostels we have stayed in in Peru. It’s such a fun way to travel and meet all kinds of cool people.
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