April 5, 2008

  • Chapter 4 South America:  Cusco and Machu Picchu, Peru
    Cast Memebers:  Me, Dan, Nam, Frances, Duy... we're down to 5!

    Ah, finally a country where I know somewhat of what is going on because....... they speak spanish!  Yay.  Now if anyone tells you can get by in Brazil using your spanish, they are wrong, unless that particular Brazilian speaks spanish.  So right when we get to Cusco, we head to our hostel.  We loved it right away and you could tell this was a party hostel.  That morning while checking in, there was a Chilean guy who was just coming in from partying all night.  Haha.

     

     

    CUSCO!!  We took a long desperately needed nap in our very comfortable bunk beds
    and headed out on the town.  We realized that... Damn, we have really
    bad headaches and it's very difficult to breathe.  It turns out, people
    weren't lying when they said that being in Cusco would be like that
    since its altitude is very high on the Andes mountains.  The trick is
    to chew on coca leaves or drink coca tea.  I don't think it worked for
    us... haha.  Still, we had a great time strolling around town and
    enjoying the beautiful scenery and getting a glimpse of the immense
    culture the surrounded us.

     

     


    On the way to Machu Picchu, we decided to visit the Sacred Valley first.  We visisted the valley via bus.  We were able to see many ancient and interesting sites and of course... the native Peruvians.  If we thought we had our exercize on our Amazon trip, this showed us that the Amazon had nothin' to show us... haha.  We hiked and hiked and climbed and climbed and, still, the altitude didn't help.  There were moments where Cuzzie and I had to take a breather right on the side of the hill... LOL.  Cuzzie was right... after this trip, we'd be Toned and Tanned! 

     


           

     


    Machu Picchu!  Machu Picchu is an ancient Mayan Ruin site that was never found by the Spaniads because it is so well hidden in the mountains.  From the Sacred Valley, we took a train to Aguas Calients where we spent a night to get ready for our sunrise trip up to Machu Picchu.  We thought it would be tough for us to get up at the butt crack of dawn, but we did it!  We were up and out the door by 5:30AM.  When we got up to Machu Picchu, the sun hadn't come out yet so all we saw were clouds and we were in it since Machu Picchu is so high up.  We felt as if we were in heaven or some chinese kung fu movie.  Being up at Machu Picchu was an amazing experience.  It really was spiritual and being there simply feels unreal.  Make sure to prepare for the breathing difficulty and the tough hikes up and down the ruins!