After 5 sweaty days in a jungle town, 8 Forsheys boarded a Lima-bound plane from the only gate at the Iquitos airport (Don´t ask which one your plane´s leaving from, you´ll only get laughed at). We had a 10 hour layover in Lima before continuing on to Cuzco, so we stashed our bags and taxied on over to the pleasant Barranco neighborhood for dinner. After ignoring several offers of free pisco sours, we relented at a cliff-side restaurant where we enjoyed lomo saltado, anticuchos de corazon, and a parrillada for three, the biggest pile of meat ever served. Really, an obscene quantity of flesh. Then we waddled down to the bluffs to catch some salty air before returning to Jorge Chavez International for our 5am to Cuzco.
After enjoying what must be the most spectacular approach of all flight plans, we touched down in the picturesque town of Cuzco. Save for nearly losing my airline eggs in the baggage claim, the crew was remarkably free of any altitude sickness. We spent the day catching up on sleep and running travel errands. We picked up our train tickets for the next day, had dinner, and hit the hay early.
In the morning, we took two of what I´ll call adventure cabs to Ollantaytambo for our next connection. We raced the whole of the 2 hour ride and listened to Maroon 5 and Keane at blistering levels (I now know how to ask someone to lower the volume). At Ollantaytambo, we boarded a 2 car, seemingly engine-less train for the last 2.5 hours of the trip towards Machu Picchu.
Aquas Calientes is the overpriced, rapidly growing, touristy town at the base of Machu Picchu where we ate Alpaca steaks for dinner, bought our 120 Sol (around 40 USD) park tickets, and then stayed the night. We slept at Rupa Wasi (B+, ridiculously steep climb to entrance, but nice and clean with good view).
We caught the 6am bus the next morning up to Machu Picchu and I was surprised to see how few people were out at the site when we arrived. Following Brett´s lead, we immediately made our way over the ruins toward Wayna Picchu, the mountain overlooking Machu Picchu. Since only 400 climbers are allowed each day, we signed in right away and started off on the trail. Still feeling nauseous, I turned back after a 1/4 of the way and Kiima and the remaining six continued on to complete what can only be described as a heroic climb (check the pics). Kiima tells me there was a cave, some rock climbing, and narrow, slippery paths involved.
After the crew returned 2.5 hours later, we ate our packed lunches and then explored the rest of the site which was much larger and more intact that I had expected. This is one of the few world wonders that actually earns the title without any hesitation. The scale of the construction in the agriculture and urban sections may be the most impressive aspect of the entire site when you consider the time, muscle, and vision needed to complete a project so expansive.
A few hours later, the hills were covered with the latecomers from Cuzco and it had started to drizzle, so we caught the bus back down the switchbacks toward Aguas Calientes. After a quick plates of fries and some alpaca hat shopping, we took the exhaustingly scenic Vistadome train 4 hours back to Cuzco.
After enjoying what must be the most spectacular approach of all flight plans, we touched down in the picturesque town of Cuzco. Save for nearly losing my airline eggs in the baggage claim, the crew was remarkably free of any altitude sickness. We spent the day catching up on sleep and running travel errands. We picked up our train tickets for the next day, had dinner, and hit the hay early.
In the morning, we took two of what I´ll call adventure cabs to Ollantaytambo for our next connection. We raced the whole of the 2 hour ride and listened to Maroon 5 and Keane at blistering levels (I now know how to ask someone to lower the volume). At Ollantaytambo, we boarded a 2 car, seemingly engine-less train for the last 2.5 hours of the trip towards Machu Picchu.
Aquas Calientes is the overpriced, rapidly growing, touristy town at the base of Machu Picchu where we ate Alpaca steaks for dinner, bought our 120 Sol (around 40 USD) park tickets, and then stayed the night. We slept at Rupa Wasi (B+, ridiculously steep climb to entrance, but nice and clean with good view).
We caught the 6am bus the next morning up to Machu Picchu and I was surprised to see how few people were out at the site when we arrived. Following Brett´s lead, we immediately made our way over the ruins toward Wayna Picchu, the mountain overlooking Machu Picchu. Since only 400 climbers are allowed each day, we signed in right away and started off on the trail. Still feeling nauseous, I turned back after a 1/4 of the way and Kiima and the remaining six continued on to complete what can only be described as a heroic climb (check the pics). Kiima tells me there was a cave, some rock climbing, and narrow, slippery paths involved.
After the crew returned 2.5 hours later, we ate our packed lunches and then explored the rest of the site which was much larger and more intact that I had expected. This is one of the few world wonders that actually earns the title without any hesitation. The scale of the construction in the agriculture and urban sections may be the most impressive aspect of the entire site when you consider the time, muscle, and vision needed to complete a project so expansive.
A few hours later, the hills were covered with the latecomers from Cuzco and it had started to drizzle, so we caught the bus back down the switchbacks toward Aguas Calientes. After a quick plates of fries and some alpaca hat shopping, we took the exhaustingly scenic Vistadome train 4 hours back to Cuzco.
1 comments:
I don't know if my first comment worked - but you guys are awesome. Jason "Stewart" and Mel, you guys and the fam. are awesome!
Love, -Charlene
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