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| cusco |
Trip Highlight: Machu Picchu! The entire spring program in Lima flew to Cusco, the capital of the Incan Empire, in the the Andes. The city rests at an elevation of nearly 11,000 feet which can cause some nasty altitude sickness for travelers which can be avoided (or at least reduced) by chewing coca leaves (same plant that cocaine comes from). First time we emerged from the hotel we were greeted by three women in traditional dress with a llama being pulled along behind them. Imagine our excitement! So we all took turns snapping photos only to be accosted for money as we were attempting to leave. The women wanted 10 soles per person, for 6 of us, so 60 soles...thats like $30. Highway robbery! We learned quickly not to take pictures of the locals in traditional dress because they only present themselves that way so they can make money off tourists snapping photos. It's sad, because many women bring their children out to the streets with them because they know that tourists would rather take pictures of little kids playing with baby llamas.
We visited the ruins of Sacsayhuamán which are on the northern edge of the city which was added as a UNESCO World Heritage site, along with the Cusco proper. The stones are so precisely fit together that you cannot fit a single piece of paper between two. Now the city is used as a site to celebrate Inti Raymi, or the winter solstice (summer for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere). Immediately after we had a brief tour of Cusco and all it had to offer and then we were set loose on the city. Us girls spent a vast majority of the day shopping in the beautiful markets which were filled with exquisite scarves, gloves, bags and so much more all made out of Alpaca wool which is some of the finest in the world. Not gonna lie, we went a little crazy. Word for the wise, never unleash a pack of girls in an Incan market without supervision, although I'm sure all the shopkeepers were very happy that day.
Next stop on our tour was Ollantaytambo, which was the royal estate of Pachacuti, emperor of the Incan empire. We hiked up all the terraces built so that the Incans could take advantage of the different climates at different heights to take in the beautiful view from the top through the Sacred Valley.
Nelly's House was our next stop where we learned how the women of the region prepare Alpaca wool and got a demonstration in cleaning, dyeing, and weaving the wool. They use all natural soaps and fruits to dye the wool. She showed us how to differentiate between baby Alpaca, Alpaca and sheep wool, baby Alpaca being the softest and sheep being the most coarse. Also on display for us ladies were natural lip dyes, which according to Nelly are "kiss proof" which she demonstrated on the boys! They walked around the rest of the day with big red lips on their cheeks which they couldn't scrub off!
From Ollantaytambo we took a two hour train ride to the base camp for Machu Picchu. Anabel, Bryan, Karina and I spent the entire duration of the trip playing Spades, which got very competitive. When our train came to a stop we looked out the window to find that we were in the center of the town, as in the railway was in the center of the street. Kind of a novelty, but we didn't take time to appreciate it as it was off to bed for our 5am wake up call the next morning.
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| in the sacred valley |
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| ollantaytambo |
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| pretty much stairs the whole way up |
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| made it to the top of machu picchu mountain! |
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| our group |
To get to Machu Picchu you have to take a 20 minute bus ride from the town, winding up through the mountains until you feel like you are on top of the world. It was so surreal to finally be at this location that I have heard so much about and seen in so many pictures. A couple of us hiked up Machu Picchu mountain while the rest of the group climbed Huayna Picchu. I'll just say this, it was like a two hour session on the stairmaster. My buns got a serious workout. But the view from the top, words cannot explain it, so I'll let my pictures do the talking.
Trip Highlight: Machu Picchu! The entire spring program in Lima flew to Cusco, the capital of the Incan Empire, in the the Andes. The city rests at an elevation of nearly 11,000 feet which can cause some nasty altitude sickness for travelers which can be avoided (or at least reduced) by chewing coca leaves (same plant that cocaine comes from). First time we emerged from the hotel we were greeted by three women in traditional dress with a llama being pulled along behind them. Imagine our excitement! So we all took turns snapping photos only to be accosted for money as we were attempting to leave. The women wanted 10 soles per person, for 6 of us, so 60 soles...thats like $30. Highway robbery! We learned quickly not to take pictures of the locals in traditional dress because they only present themselves that way so they can make money off tourists snapping photos. It's sad, because many women bring their children out to the streets with them because they know that tourists would rather take pictures of little kids playing with baby llamas. 
From Ollantaytambo we took a two hour train ride to the base camp for Machu Picchu. Anabel, Bryan, Karina and I spent the entire duration of the trip playing Spades, which got very competitive. When our train came to a stop we looked out the window to find that we were in the center of the town, as in the railway was in the center of the street. Kind of a novelty, but we didn't take time to appreciate it as it was off to bed for our 5am wake up call the next morning. 
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