Machu Pichu

The last few days have been pretty exciting. Saturday we went to visit several Incan archaeological sites around the city of Cuzco. That evening, we took a bus and a train up to the small village of Aguas Calientes, which is very close to the site of Machu Pichu. To save money (a lot of money), we avioded the purely tourist train that goes all the way from Cuzco to Aguas Calientes. Instead, we decided to do what our friend Felipe recommended and take a really cheap bus for the first part of the journey and get on the train once it was much closer to the village.

The bus was probably the worst we have been on in our time in Latin America. First, everybody but us on the bus was Peruvian. And everybody was treating this bus like it was a moving van. People seemed to be throwing everything they owned to the roof of the bus and even in the aisles, including broomsticks, huge packages of toilet paper, large boxes and even bags of bread! I even think I saw a kitchen sink.... Even though it was a two hour bus ride, people were standing in the aisles for the entire journey. Others were climbing the side of the bus and trying to come in through the windows to sell candies and drinks and there was some guy who stood at the front of the bus for the first fifteen minutes of the ride making a speech for some Peruvian communist reform, saying how we were all "brothers in the struggle". And then there wasTova and I....
Well, the train was certainly a lot more pleasant. We happened to sit beside a few young guys from California who were visiting Mach Pichu as well. We ended up sharing a hotel room with one of them to save money and even went to Machu Pichu with them the next day.

Tova and I were pretty excited about seeing the sunrise at Machu Pichu, both for the incredible experience itsef, and also to aviod the tourist rush later in the day. So we convinced the guys to wake up with us at 5:30 a.m. so we could start the walk up the mountain. Machu Pichu is an Incan city that was build high up in the mountains, and we decided it would be fun to actually walk all the way up the mountain ourselves rather than take the bus. We had to walk two hours straight up a mountain filled with thick forest to get there, but it was definitely worth all the pain once we arrived at the top. Machu Pichu itself was absolutely incredible, something that we will never forget. We went on a two-hour tour, which was interesting and actually allowed us to understand exactly what we were seeing.

Later, we went to the hot baths, which were pretty much a disapointment and waste of 10 soles (the Peruvian currencey). They were just baths outside, an some weren't even warm! And it is really cheap for locals to go there, so there were a lot of families bathing, washing their bodies and hair, we suppose because they don't have showers at home. Some people were even naked!
We are leaving in a few hours for the northern Peruvian beaches!

Chau

Alice and Tova