Macchu Picchu

Yesterday was an adventure and sight filled day. We started really early having to get up at 4:00am to get on the bus by 4:30. The bus then took us two hours back to the city of Ollantaytambo to catch the PeruRail. The train was actually really nice and they served us a breakfast of pineapple juice a salami sandwich. The view from the train was the best part though was the view it was unbeatable.

 When we finally arrive in the small town at the base of Machu Picchu we went to a small plaza and took some pictures with the Inka and Peruvian hairless dogs.

 Then we still had one more bus ride up to the top of Macchu Picchu. It was a zigzagging road right on the edge of a cliff which was a little scary but we made it safely and got our tickets stampe and entered. 

  The initial view is a shock not of terror but of utter beauty. You're standing in the middle of the Andes mountains in a jungle with a beautiful stone city lying in front of you. 

The city itself is divide into three parts, residential, agricultural, and religious.We traveled to the religious sector first where they had a water temple with water from the mountain tops still running through the stone canals. Next we visited the Sun temple which has two windows one for when the sunlight directly aligns with one or the other on the winter solstice which is in a few day and one for the summer solstice in December. Next we visited the tomb of Pachacuti. Pachacuti was the Inka at the time Machu Picchu was built. He was a great leader that built the Incan infrastructure greatly and increased the power of the empire.

 Next we saw the agricultural part which was very similar to other ruins we have seen with terraces built into the side of the cliff. Lastly was the residential sector where we saw the three door palace which had a gorgeous balcony with a view of the mountains and jungle. 

 Then our tour ended and we had some free time to explore Machu Picchu. My group decided to go to the La Puerta del Sol or the sun gate which is a 1 hour hike up the side of the mountain. The trek was treacherous but the view at the end was worth it. Machu Picchu was so far away that we we couldn't see any of the tourist a that we knew were roaming the site. Since the walk up was so long we decided to sit up at the sun gate and eat some snacks before heading down. Slowly but surely almost our entire group showed up and we had a full blown group picnic 

 The walk down afterwards made us really appreciate the work we did on the hike up it was a long trail. But we finally reached the bottom and had to head back into town for lunch/dinner. When back in town we ate at a restaurant called Cenetario which sat right on the river and we had window seat with a great view.

 Unfortunately after lunch/dinner we had to catch our train back to Cuzco. On the train ride though there was a surprise authentic dance show and an alpaca wear fashion show. the dance show was cool to watch especially when he danced with our professor Monica.

  After a very long day we arrived back at the hotel and basically passed out. But I knew it was a day I would never forget.