One of the main highlights of Peru is Machu Picchu. This was actually the reason that we decided to come to the country at all. I know that this is something you can do with kids (check out this awesome blog!), but it wasn't something we were up for. This was the perfect opportunity to see Machu Pichu while we're still relatively young and healthy--and kid free!
Let me tell you, Machu Picchu lives up to all of the hype! I was worried that it wouldn't be that amazing in person, but pictures really don't do this site justice. You can't capture the breadth and depth of the ruins. Scale is so hard to comprehend until you're standing in the middle of them, or viewing them from the top of a mountain--like we did!
But let's start at the beginning where we waited in the pouring rain for more than an hour to get up to the top. We grabbed a poncho from the lady on the street, and thankfully it cleared up as soon as we drove up to the base of Machu Picchu.
We hired a guide at the entrance gates. It's really simple to do and most of them speak English pretty well. We had tickets to climb Huayna Picchu starting at 10:00, so we had a few hours to explore. To be honest, it didn't hit me as immediately as it did Dan. He was wowed before the clouds even lifted. For me though, it was hearing about the city, how they excavated it from the jungle, and seeing the ritual rooms they built that made me grasp just how impressive the Incans were. I can't begin to describe what difficult terrain this is. But the Incans were able to build great cities and create arable land out of it--without many tools!
We left our guide to start our hike up Huayna Picchu around 10:45. We read online that climbing this mountain (the one you see in the background of that first picture) was a challenge. It is steep, with little-to-no safety railings, and can be slippery at times. I can, in fact, confirm those facts. It was strenuous! And, thankfully I'm not afraid of heights, but Dan is, and it got a little dicey at times.
Oh, also, did I mention at times you had to crawl through caves? That was extra special for my claustrophobic husband.
And then we had to do the same thing on the way down! But it really was a fun hike. It took us around 3.5 hours to do both ways. It was hard, but one of those things you feel really proud of yourself for doing afterward.
After the climb my legs felt like jello, but I knew we wanted to climb up to the Guard Tower to get the iconic view you see on all the post cards. It was hard, but so worth it! They had a bunch of llamas up top (strictly for tourism), including a baby llama. So cute!
It was a fantastic day that I won't soon forget. If you've got Machu Picchu on your bucket list--do it!
See our other stops in Peru:
Itinerary
Lima in Two Days
Getting to the Sacred Valley
Moray and Maras
Horseback Riding in the Sacred Valley
Cusco and Pisac
Let me tell you, Machu Picchu lives up to all of the hype! I was worried that it wouldn't be that amazing in person, but pictures really don't do this site justice. You can't capture the breadth and depth of the ruins. Scale is so hard to comprehend until you're standing in the middle of them, or viewing them from the top of a mountain--like we did!
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| View of Machu Picchu from the top of Huayna Picchu |
But let's start at the beginning where we waited in the pouring rain for more than an hour to get up to the top. We grabbed a poncho from the lady on the street, and thankfully it cleared up as soon as we drove up to the base of Machu Picchu.
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| View at Machu Picchu |
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| View a few minutes later |
We hired a guide at the entrance gates. It's really simple to do and most of them speak English pretty well. We had tickets to climb Huayna Picchu starting at 10:00, so we had a few hours to explore. To be honest, it didn't hit me as immediately as it did Dan. He was wowed before the clouds even lifted. For me though, it was hearing about the city, how they excavated it from the jungle, and seeing the ritual rooms they built that made me grasp just how impressive the Incans were. I can't begin to describe what difficult terrain this is. But the Incans were able to build great cities and create arable land out of it--without many tools!
And then we had to do the same thing on the way down! But it really was a fun hike. It took us around 3.5 hours to do both ways. It was hard, but one of those things you feel really proud of yourself for doing afterward.
After the climb my legs felt like jello, but I knew we wanted to climb up to the Guard Tower to get the iconic view you see on all the post cards. It was hard, but so worth it! They had a bunch of llamas up top (strictly for tourism), including a baby llama. So cute!
See our other stops in Peru:
Itinerary
Lima in Two Days
Getting to the Sacred Valley
Moray and Maras
Horseback Riding in the Sacred Valley
Cusco and Pisac
Great photos of Machu Picchu. For more facts related to Machu Picchu you can visit readsmarty.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteBeautiful & informative article! I have a blog on Machu Picchu, you should read this out...
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