Voyage of the Blonde Treader: Machu Picchu

Well, I finally got the opportunity to see Machu Picchu. It had been on the travel list for awhile and then the trip just kind of fell into my lap. Bernard Chu, a Southwestern buddy, had been telling me he was heading that way in November and so I just jumped on board. The only issue was missing Christmas since I was planning on heading to Argentina and didn't see a point of going back to the States when I was already so close. But my parents assured me that they wouldn't disown me for missing out (although my mom has graciously been sending me pictures of all the Christmas decorations she decided to put up to rub it in). I will just pretend it's her way of coping with my absence this year.

NFL Sunday

So after avoiding the malls on Black Friday, I shoved half my life into a few suitcases hoping I wouldn't be charged an arm and a leg for luggage fees. After arriving in Lima I met up with Bernard and we headed to stay at a guest house of our friend Whitney - also a booketeer. She actually grew up in Peru so we took advantage of her language skills and headed to Cuzco. Cuzco is a great little city but a bit high so we had to spend a little time getting acclimated up there with some Coca Tea. There is a great little pub called Norton Rat's in the main square that we crashed for awhile. They were promoting NFL Sunday so as Americans it was a no-brainer which bar to go to. It was actually pretty weird because I ran into a guy with a Cowboys hat on that happened to be from the exact same city as me and even lived with a family friend of ours when he was out in LA. Small world.

Our trip to Peru was already planned out and completely organized be a tour guide that my friend Emily recommended. His name is Jimmy Jhon and he was awesome and if any of you want to travel there some day let me know so I can give you his info. Not only was he more reasonably priced than most guides, but he also picked us up from the airport in Cuzco and from then on out we didn't have to worry about anything. He already had our meals, hostels, excursions, train tickets, and tickets to Machu Picchu all set up so all we needed to do was survive long enough to take advantage of everything. Easier said than done though. (Also her really like to be called Jaime Juan).

The first day we took a van up to the top of a mountain that was 2796 feet above sea level (4500 meters) and then biked 72 Kilometers down (about 45 miles). It was great, the weather was beautiful, the view was amazing, etc. And the roads were surprisingly good. Afterwards we grabbed some lunch and went white water rafting which was good. We headed to dinner and then a local bar for a bit, keeping in mind that we had to get up at 6am the next day. The 2nd day we had an 8 hour hike up the Inca Jungle Trail with a few stops on the way (Thanks God). It was the most difficult hike I've ever done. Not really sure if it's the altitude or that I'm just out of shape, but I was really sore the next few days. It was beautiful though because we could see the whole valley from the top. And the places we stopped at for more water, bug spray, etc. were neat little homes of people that lived up there. They all had monkeys for pets and sold their homemade juices, chocolate, and other things like Gatorade. At the end of the hike though there were some really nice hot springs strategically located for our use. So good.

Relaxing in the hot springs

The next day we went zip lining between the mountains which was really cool. Some of the areas between the lines though were a little iffy. For instance, we landed on one platform and had to climb up a ladder (which is probably the best word for it) that consisted of metal bars hammered in to the rock on the side of the mountain. Which reminds me to mention, that if you're afraid of heights then you should probably avoid going to Machu Picchu or at least hiking any of the trails to it. There were many parts were I knew if I slipped or stepped on a loose rock that I was a goner. Not really sure how I managed to survive actually, seeing as I'm not the most coordinated person and add a backpack on there that weighs have my body weight. It's a miracle really.

Path up Wayna Picchu

We had a 3 hour hike over some railroad tracks after the zip lining which brought us to Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of Machu Picchu. It was a cute little town built around the river, probably one of the nicest towns I saw while in Peru. Some good restaurants and little shops to look through, though the prices were a lot higher compared to Cuzco since we were at Machu Picchu. But we had an option of either waking up at 4am to hike to Machu Picchu the next day or wake up at 530 and take a bus up. Definitely chose the bus. Best choice we could have made too because not only did we get to sleep longer, but Whitney had sprained her ankle the week before and it was swelling up again after all the hiking, but also, if we had hiked up we would have been completely drained. And this would probably have prevented us from hiking up Wayna Picchu which is a cliff overlooking Machu Picchu. It was really steep and you had to go slow since it was a lot riskier than your typical mounting hike, but it was definitely worth it once you got to the top. The view was amazing.

There were some "stairs" if that's what you want to call them that people were coming down while we were hiking up. All I could think when looking at them was "there is no way in hell that I'm going down those stairs." Here's a pic of them:

And even though we went up a different way, guess had we had to go down? That's right, the stairs of death. They give you no other option. It was okay though, you just had to go REALLY slow. But it was definitely worth it.

There were a few first experiences for me this trip. One was peeing in a hole in the ground. Awesome. Now I see why guys love peeing outside. Another was the consistent lack of running water in the hostels we stayed at. It was great for me because I had an excuse not to shower everyday (although a few cold showers were necessary when running water was found). I think my favorite part was in one hostel the water wasn't working so Bernard went to tell the lady "hey there's no water...no hay agua" and she just looked at him and said in Spanish: "yeah, the water is turned off" and then just walked away. No big deal, and not going to do anything about it. Another thing I had never seen before was people taking the pet monkeys around town. We were eating breakfast one day and this woman's brown hair started moving and then jumped down onto the table. Obviously it wasn't really her hair, just the baby monkey living in it...which she proceeded to start feeding at the table in the middle of the restaurant. Don't worry though, I'm pretty sure health codes don't exist in Peru, so nobody got mad at her. A very common thing there that I wasn't used to was when you were standing in line somewhere, patiently waiting your turn, people would just come up and cut in front of you. No biggie, I was just standing there for 10 minutes like a normal human being, but thanks for making me hate you. Forget social courtesy, next time I go I'm gonna cut lines like nobody's business.

Also, while Cuzco and Aguas Calientes were really nice cities, Lima was the ugliest place I have ever seen. And I'm from Plano, Texas. Plano. First off there was no green anywhere, I don't remember seeing any trees outside of this one park we went to. Second, the buildings were no higher than 3 stories, brown, and everywhere. I think the city has 10 something million people and there aren't really any skyscrapers so it was just built out. I didn't feel it was necessary to take any picture of it during the day time. I took one picture of a street at night where the lights could help disguise the ugliness. Here it is, enjoy: