I Went to Machu Picchu - No Big Deal

I know, I know, my blog post on Machu Picchu is LONG overdue. I'm sorry! Basically I came back and got started on all of my homework, papers, studying and finals preparation, worried that if I even took a minute to say something I'd go over the time I had given myself and be stuck writing papers with Adam and my family here. Which by the way, they will be arriving in less than twenty hours! I'm really excited, but it's hard to think that it's really real. Time has flown by super fast, I feel like it's all just a dream.


Anyway, Peru. Words can't describe this trip. It was awesome, a different kind of awesome than Patagonia however. I feel like Patagonia left a strange sense of awe about the wonders of nature, whereas this was amazement about what past civilizations accomplished. We arrived in Cusco, Peru in the middle of the afternoon and went straight to our hostels. My traveling companion was the lovely Mia who planned it all and did very well. Our hostel was beautiful and amazing. It had a very hippy, spiritual good vibey feel and the way it was decorated reflected part of my decorating style. It was just a great inspiration and if I could have hung out there the entire time, I probably would have. But we didn't, we had places to be and things to see. :)



The first night we toured the small street that our hostel was on and then at dinner we tried alpaca steaks. Very tasty, definitely a dinner I would recommend. On Friday morning we woke up early to catch the tour that we had set up the night before of the Sacred Valley, which consists of smaller ruins around the city of Cusco, it gave us a wonderful taste of what Machu Picchu was going to be like the following day. We visited three places and had a Peruvian style buffet for lunch. At the end of the tour our tour guide brought us to a home where they make and sell traditional hand-woven items where we were shown how they spin and die the wool and the process of creating their blankets, table runners, etc. It was an amazing process to watch and I loved being able to see how versatile plants can be.


At the end of our fourth stop we took a taxi to the town we had been in previously, Ollyantantambo to catch our train to Aguas Calientes where we would catch the short bus up the mountain to Machu Picchu. Mia and I unfortunately weren't able to buy our tickets online because of technical difficulties so we got stuck with having to buy our tickets for 11:00pm. Arriving in Aguas Calientes near one, where someone from our hostel would meet us at the train station to bring us there. Well, unfortunately we got there and no one from the hostel was there to pick us up. We attempted to find the place, with the help of the two cabin attendants from the train but never did. So we had to search for a 24-hour hostel and we found one near the plaza where we would be taking the bus up to Machu Picchu and for us to buy our bus tickets and tickets to the ruins. After setting ourselves up with the new hostel, we got to our room for our one, or one-and-a-half hour catnap before having to get in line at 4:00AM in order to be the first 400 people so we could make our way up to the ruins of Huayanapicchu.


So in that picture above, do you see that mountain in the background? Yea. That's the mountain that Mia and I climbed on one hour of sleep. At the top of that mountain is the other Incan ruins of Waynapicchu (two different spellings, I switch between both of them). We pretty much ran on adrenaline the whole day, but we were able to explore almost everything about the two ruin sites. It was definitely one of my favorite accomplishments of my life so far. At one point during our explorations of the Machu Picchu ruins, one of the workers/guides of the place took us under his wing and showed us the small things that many people don't notice, but he does because he's there every day. It was obvious that he had such a passion for the ruins and I am so grateful that he shared that passion with us. After about eight hours of wandering around the ruins, we headed back to Aguas Calientes for a nice Mexican lunch/dinner, went back to our hostel and slept for a good four hours. When we woke up, we went and got some dessert, and then again, back to sleep.

The next morning we awoke, packed our bags and made our way to the train station to return to Ollyantantambo, where we would catch a bus back to Cusco and return to our first hostel for the remainder of our trip. Mia and I had plans of touring Cusco and the ruins and cathedrals within the city, but unfortunately Mia got sick from brushing her teeth with the water in Aguas Calientes (I tried to warn her...). So we went back to some of the tourist shops we had been to before and made some last minute purchases, ate another Lunch/Dinner and crashed early again to be able to wake up and make our flight the following morning. Definitely a fun adventure, and I would love to do it again, hopefully with more time next time :)

Six Weeks Left

I've got six weeks left here in Chile, and what an eventful end it's going to be! This weekend was a really tame and lazy weekend for me. I don't have any pressing projects to do, and even with the intent to get ahead on my history paper I only got a intro started and a few pages of references up. But it's quite alright, most of my stressful work is over with and most things aren't due until the end of the semester now so I have time. :) Although by the way everything else has gone, it's still going to fly by. Anyway, while this weekend has been pretty lame to write about, I have yet to explain last weekend in Pucón.


So obviously, last weekend we took a trip to Pucón. By we, I mean all of the program, it's our last trip with all of us being together and one of the last events with the program. The weekend started off with a very long overnight bus ride to the city of Pucón where we stayed in some really nice cabins. The bus ride was nothing worth mentioning other than the fact that it was the most uncomfortable bus ride that I've ever been on in regards of attempting to sleep. Shorter people had issues, meaning that those of us with taller statures were basically out of luck, but after a fitful night of off and on sleeping we made it and we're all young enough to bounce back from it easily anyway.



After settling into our cabins and eating breakfast we made our way to the bus for the ride to the city of Currahuehue where we met with a Mapuche family there, toured their museum and then were welcomed into their home for lunch and activities. Their home included a large portion of land where we played games, explored the riverbank, learned a mapuche game similar to hockey, took a weaving workshop, learned to dance, and of course ate some amazing food. Our hosts were wonderful and were happy to share their culture with us and we were all grateful for their hospitality.


The next day, Saturday, was an activity day where we chose our activities the night before. We had the option to climb a volcano, go rafting, and canopy (ziplining) among a few other things we could have done on our own. I chose to do the canopy activity because it was more economical and I've always wanted to do it. The volcano sounded interesting, but it was expensive, and in the end I'm glad I didn't do it because they had to turn back early due to the weather from the night before and the scattered showers appearing later on. I was one of six girls that chose to do our activity, which didn't last long enough, but was amazing as well. If you ever have the chance, I strongly recommend ziplining, I know I will take the opportunity to do it again should it present itself. After our activities we were given some free time before heading to a nice restaurant for dinner where I had an amazing steak and potatoes dish with a bottle of wine that my table bought and shared.



On Sunday, our last day there before heading out later on in the evening for another overnight bus ride back to Viña we did a two short hikes to see some waterfalls in the area and then spent a few hours of the afternoon lazing around in the hot springs. Afterwards we went back to our cabins to pack up before being served a "classy" asado (barbecue) at the resorts castle kitchen. Once we finished there we hopped on the bus to head back, and a second uncomfortable fitful overnight on the bus ensued.


Not really an adventurous weekend but it was still nice and relaxing. Our trips with the program seem to have been high end which is a blessing in some ways, but then you realize how much cheaper the trip could have been with a slightly ritzier locales. Oh well.

Wednesday night I will be spending the night with a group of gals from the program at the airport anxiously waiting for our morning flight to Peru where we will visit Cusco and Machu Picchu. :) Super excited and I hope that everything goes as planned. We won't want a repeat adventure of Patagonia since we won't have as much room for improvisation.