We got to Aguas Calientas at about midnight and as soon as we got off the train several ladies and children ran up to us offering hostels. We picked one that that "offer free wifi, free breakfast, very clean" and walked over to a dumpy dump with nothing for free. We walked back to the main area where we agreed on a different place. The new place was still a dump but it had warm water and we were too tired to complain. The water from our shower flooded the whole bathroom with at least three inches of water, so we shut the bathroom door and went to bed. When we woke up in the morning the water was gone, not sure where it went, but it worked out well.
We got a 4:30am wake up call at the hostel and headed out to the bus station to find an already long line up for the bus ride up the mountain to Machu Picchu. It was pouring rain and we started to regret leaving our rain jackets back in Lima. This was short lived though because the clouds opened up and the sun showed up to give us fabulous weather for the majority of the day. We took a bus (for $16 each return) about 30 minutes up the mountain and thanked God that we had bought tickets prior because it was sold out for the day (2500 tickets available per day). As soon as we walked in the front entrance we had to climb about 15 minutes up the mountain and looked upon one of the most unbelievable sights known to man. Machu Picchu is one of the seven wonders of the world. It was built by the Inka people with small instruments that they created out of various stones. It is a city complete with an agricultural area where they grew crops, a religious area where they had temples and burial sites, and an administrative area with offices and desks and secret access areas. All of Ollantaytambo and Aguas Callientas have Inka ruins as well but this area was well hidden from enemies that tried to attack the people. After the Inka people left, there were two families who farmed some of the area. This is when Hiram Bingham, an explorer from Yale University, who was very interested in the Inka people "rediscovered" the place. His name is everywhere (it is even the name of one of the trains you take to get to Aguas Callientas) as the person who found this area which upsets me a bit because Machu Picchu and the Inka ruins had already been well known to many Peruvian peoples. We explored the ruins from 6am until about 3pm when it began to rain again. We hiked up Machu Picchu mountain which had a glorious view. We have approximately 300 pictures that we will post in the next few days. It is difficult to explain the sights and sounds of this attraction, but it was well worth the time and money it took to get there. It is hard to believe that these people built such an amazing place so long ago with no machinery. The stones they used are HUGE, they rolled them on wet wood to get them up the mountain. They used the stars and astrology to guide their building and they worshipped the sun as the provider of life. They understood that the sun got closer to the earth in the summer and used this information to help them with their crop. They chose Machu Picchu mountain to build their city because it is the one area that recieves the most sunlight throughout the year. There is a limitless amount of information about the Inka people and this wondrous place they built, but I encourage each of you to find a way to visit it because it's hard to communicate its glory in words alone.
After our full day on the mountain we were wet, sweaty, tired and hungry so we walked back to our hostel looking forward to a hot shower but all we found were squirts of ice cold water shooting out of the shower head. That was enough to get us to complain and we got a new room with a TV!!! After four episodes of friends we walked out to the main square which is very beautiful. It is set up much like Whistler and they had a big projector showing the soccor game between Peru and Chilli. This was a sight to see! The Peruvians love their soccor and for some reason Tyson is now very into it. We were attacked by many restaurant owners offering us "good deals" on food. We ended up spending more than we should have but the pizza was delicious.
We asked for a wake up call at 7:30 am the next morning which never came but thankfully Tyson woke up at 8am and we managed to catch our 8:30 train back to Ollantaytambo. Here we caught a taxi who said he would take us to the bus station but rather dropped us off in the city and refused to take us further. So we paid the man and wandered the city which turned out to be pretty fun. We explored a market place and met a couple people from France. We ate lunch (pizza for the third time) and pinapples and took a cab to the bus station where we are waiting right now. We are awaiting another 24 hour bus ride and then we have two nights in nicer hotels so are happy:)
"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"
We got a 4:30am wake up call at the hostel and headed out to the bus station to find an already long line up for the bus ride up the mountain to Machu Picchu. It was pouring rain and we started to regret leaving our rain jackets back in Lima. This was short lived though because the clouds opened up and the sun showed up to give us fabulous weather for the majority of the day. We took a bus (for $16 each return) about 30 minutes up the mountain and thanked God that we had bought tickets prior because it was sold out for the day (2500 tickets available per day). As soon as we walked in the front entrance we had to climb about 15 minutes up the mountain and looked upon one of the most unbelievable sights known to man. Machu Picchu is one of the seven wonders of the world. It was built by the Inka people with small instruments that they created out of various stones. It is a city complete with an agricultural area where they grew crops, a religious area where they had temples and burial sites, and an administrative area with offices and desks and secret access areas. All of Ollantaytambo and Aguas Callientas have Inka ruins as well but this area was well hidden from enemies that tried to attack the people. After the Inka people left, there were two families who farmed some of the area. This is when Hiram Bingham, an explorer from Yale University, who was very interested in the Inka people "rediscovered" the place. His name is everywhere (it is even the name of one of the trains you take to get to Aguas Callientas) as the person who found this area which upsets me a bit because Machu Picchu and the Inka ruins had already been well known to many Peruvian peoples. We explored the ruins from 6am until about 3pm when it began to rain again. We hiked up Machu Picchu mountain which had a glorious view. We have approximately 300 pictures that we will post in the next few days. It is difficult to explain the sights and sounds of this attraction, but it was well worth the time and money it took to get there. It is hard to believe that these people built such an amazing place so long ago with no machinery. The stones they used are HUGE, they rolled them on wet wood to get them up the mountain. They used the stars and astrology to guide their building and they worshipped the sun as the provider of life. They understood that the sun got closer to the earth in the summer and used this information to help them with their crop. They chose Machu Picchu mountain to build their city because it is the one area that recieves the most sunlight throughout the year. There is a limitless amount of information about the Inka people and this wondrous place they built, but I encourage each of you to find a way to visit it because it's hard to communicate its glory in words alone.
After our full day on the mountain we were wet, sweaty, tired and hungry so we walked back to our hostel looking forward to a hot shower but all we found were squirts of ice cold water shooting out of the shower head. That was enough to get us to complain and we got a new room with a TV!!! After four episodes of friends we walked out to the main square which is very beautiful. It is set up much like Whistler and they had a big projector showing the soccor game between Peru and Chilli. This was a sight to see! The Peruvians love their soccor and for some reason Tyson is now very into it. We were attacked by many restaurant owners offering us "good deals" on food. We ended up spending more than we should have but the pizza was delicious.
We asked for a wake up call at 7:30 am the next morning which never came but thankfully Tyson woke up at 8am and we managed to catch our 8:30 train back to Ollantaytambo. Here we caught a taxi who said he would take us to the bus station but rather dropped us off in the city and refused to take us further. So we paid the man and wandered the city which turned out to be pretty fun. We explored a market place and met a couple people from France. We ate lunch (pizza for the third time) and pinapples and took a cab to the bus station where we are waiting right now. We are awaiting another 24 hour bus ride and then we have two nights in nicer hotels so are happy:)
"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"
this all sounds so coool, please keep up these blogs and post them on facebook, that's where I click to start reading. Miss you guys :)
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