Cusco, then on to Puno

The day after we did Machu Picchu, we were still pretty tired. Sometimes when traveling over vacation, it's easy to forget that you are actually on vacation. And even though we are in this awesome place, we still find that rest days are as important as the busy and filled days. Anyway, that's what this day was. We did walk around Cusco a bit, just in the area where our hostel was. But we didn't make a big thing of it or do anything big and crazy. We just enjoyed the city. So here's a few things that we saw.

Cusco is also really known for its night life, which we're really not in to, especially in a foreign country. We don't even go out at home. So it was okay with us to go ahead and move on. We took a bus from Cusco to Puno, the city right next to Lake Titicaca. Except it wasn't just a regular bus. Yes, we took a tour bus. We became those people. But it was actually kind of cool. We made a bunch of stops along the way, including a lunch that was included in our ticket, and we learned a lot about the ancient culture and even more modern cultures of Peru. We saw stuff that we definitely wouldn't have seen on our own.

The first two stops were colonial churches which are both currently being restored. One of the churches used to be a place for Incan religion, then it was Jesuit, and then I think Catholic. It went through several religious stages. But the coolest place we visited was an Incan temple that housed 200 people. The village there supported agriculture and trade among surrounding villages. It's huge!

After lunch, we stopped at the highest point on the road, which is also the border between the Cusco and Puno districts. We finished with a museum, and then finally on to Puno.

This is really a stopover city. The next two days we will be on Lake Titicaca enjoying the floating islands.

Machu Picchu!!!!

4:00AM Alarm goes off
4:05AM Get up
4:30AM Store big bags in hostel
4:40AM Get in line for first bus up the mountain (we were not the first)
5:30AM Bus leaves the station
5:55AM Arrive at Machu Picchu, stand on line
6:10AM Walk into gates of Machu Picchu, search for Huayna Picchu

6:30AM Accidentally pass gate to Huayna Picchu
6:35AM Re-arrive at gate
7:00AM Gate opens
7:25AM Walk through gate to Huayna Picchu

Since Tanya had been sick, she was a little out of sorts. But we did very well and let ourselves take lots of breaks. It is a lot of stairs, but it actually wasn't as bad as we had anticipated. Don't get me wrong, there are still some scary parts, but there are usually things to hang on to, and it wasn't quite as long of a hike as we thought. Because we were with the early group, there was still a lot of fog. This was good for several reasons:

1. There was no rush to get to the top. It was too foggy to see Machu Picchu (or anything beyond fifty feet in front of us) anyway.
2. The temperature was cool, so we weren't doubly hot from climbing and the sun. There was no sun.
3. We couldn't see down the mountain, so no real vertigo or scary views from way up high while climbing.
4. The reveal of the view of Machu Picchu as the fog slowly lifted was exciting. There were people cheering; it made the whole experience more awe inspiring.

8:40AM Arrive at first platform of Huayna Picchu

It was still super foggy, so we just hung out for a while and listened to the guide with his group next to us. Finally...

9:30AM Fog begins to lift

We did climb all the way to the top. It's kind of tricky up because it's just kind of a pile of boulders, and you have to go up a ladder to get there. Totally worth all of it. We climbed a mountain!

Eventually we made our way down. It was a lot more slippery coming down than going up, but we made it safely. The worst part was going down, then having to go back up again to get back to the gate. Still worth it, though.

We wandered through Machu Picchu, the Temple of the Sun, the Temple of the Condor, etc. This village was built for the elite (the Incas, who were tall people, which explains the huge steps), designed for about 300-500 people, but while it was being built, about 5000 people lived there. I could tell you more, but I'll just post pictures.

Alas, we had to leave. We grabbed our bags and the first real meal we'd had all day. Then we caught our train to Cusco. They fed us, even have us a little show. PeruRail is really good and very punctual, at least in our experience. We finally made it to our hostel. Realizing that we are no longer 22 and that dorm rooms just don't do it for us anymore, we went ahead with a private room and bath. A little more money, but it's worth it. Sleep and health are definitely worth it.

If we could, we would have spent more time there in both Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu. We just have so many things we want to do and see. More to come!

Ollantaytambo to Agua Callientes

So for a while we've been drinking quite a bit of coca tea, which is supposed to help with symptoms of altitude sickness. It's pretty good.

Unfortunately, we think it made Tanya sick. So we spent the morning taking it easy. We got a small bite to eat before catching our train to Agua Callientes. It was a beautiful ride! We followed the river all the way down, and we watched as the landscape turned from arid to rainforest. Beautiful.

As soon as we got into town, we set off to find our hostel. This is a purely walking town. The only vehicles are city owned (for construction) and the buses that go up and down to Machu Picchu. It is also very hilly.  We had a bit of trouble finding  our hostel, but on the way a lady told us about a hostel that could offer us a double room with a private bathroom (instead of the 6 bed dorm we had booked) for the same price. Perfect. We took it. Plus it was only about 100 yards to the bus station.

We bought our bus tickets for the following morning and walked around town a bit. It is so pretty here. Pictures don't do it justice.

For dinner, we have been wanting to try cuy, a Peruvian delicacy. It is guinea pig. I was hoping for a filet cut, but for sharing, they just cut the little guy in half for each of our plates. We could see his teeth, his little paws were sticking up, and Tanya identified his kidneys. There isn't a whole lot of meat on them. As far as taste goes, rabbit is the closest thing to compare it to, but rabbit is better. Anyway, trying new foods is all part of the travel adventure, right?

We made sure to get a good night's sleep before the big day!!