Tuesday
22nd April
Since
last week was Semana Santa, school was closed on Thursday and Friday. This
meant I had time to travel around! My adventures started on Thursday when the
CIS’ Team Peru and I went to Machu Picchu. I had waited so long to go, seen so
many photos of it everywhere and heard so much about it, so my expectations
were very high and I was extremely excited to visit it at last.
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| Visiting Machu Picchu |
We
had an early start leaving Urubamba at 5:00am and taking a minibus to
Ollantaytambo. From there, we took the ‘Inca Train’ until Machu Picchu village,
and then a bus to the entrance of the ruins. The journey was quite long, but
everything went smoothly. The train ride was very beautiful as we went through
lots of mountains to get to the ruins. It reminded me of the landscapes I saw
during the weekend hike I did a while ago.
There
were a lot of people at the entrance and around the ruins, as during Semana
Santa, Peruvians get to go for free. Nevertheless, the sight is so big that it
wasn’t too annoying. We walked to the top of the ruins as soon as we got there
to see the whole view, and it was absolutely breathtaking. At first, the clouds
were really low so we could not see much, but after about 20 minutes, it
cleared up completely and we could see the ruins with the beautiful mountains
in the background. The view was stunning, and I felt on top of the world. If
you’re reading this and haven’t gone to Machu Picchu yet, add it to your bucket
list right now!
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| Typical tourist photo |
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| Cloudy view |
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| Perfect view |
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| Teo and I - happiest siblings in the world |
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| Katrine and I - happiest girls in the world |
We
had a tour guide that walked us through all of Machu Picchu (meaning Old
Mountain in Quechua) and explained a lot of interesting things. He told us
about how the citadel is built at an altitude of 2,350m (lower than Urubamba)
on the saddle of a mountain surrounded by sheer drops to the Urubamba Valley
below. The Spanish never sacked it as they failed to find it and instead, it was
left abandoned. The Inca stonework is incredible and has withstood the ravages
of time. Machu Picchu’s real function still remains a mystery, but he said most
people think it was a place of worship.
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| Stone terraces |
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| Walking through the ruins |
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| Our tour guide |
After
the main visit, some of us decided to walk to Intipunku, the Sun Gate. These
are some ruins that are part of the Inca Trail about 1 hour away from Machu
Picchu. From here, the Incas controlled access to the city. The walk was really
worth it as it offers a 180-degree view of Machu Picchu from quite far away. It
made me realize how grand Machu Picchu is and how beautiful the surrounding
mountains are. After enjoying the view, we walked back and joined the rest of
the group. We made our way back to Cusco, and slept wonderfully on the bus and
train and bus back.
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| Making our way to the Sun Gate |
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| View from the top |
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Sun Gate group photo
Overall,
it was by far one of the most amazing sights I’ve seen in Peru and in the whole
world. I still have to look through the photos to remind myself I was actually
there. Next post about my visit to Puno and the Lake Titicaca :)
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| Machu Picchu group photo |
