Update- Obviously, we have pictures now. I've posted a few here, but there are so many good ones! It really is impossible to take a bad picture at Machu Picchu, it is so gorgeous all around. I may just have to do a slide show once I find the time. Enjoy these for now!
The lone mountain in the background there is Puticusi, the mountain we climbed the first day, with all the ladders. That was such an awesome hike!So, after our last post we spent another day in Machu Picchu. It was also Daniels birthday, and although he was a little beat up from all the hiking the day before, I think he still enjoyed his birthday at one of the new seven wonders of the world.
A lesson for everyone- wear pants or wear bug spray when you are outdoors. These are Daniel's legs. Can you see all the bug bites?
Robert is so adorable in this picture! He is dancing. This platform was, according to our book, used for theatrical purposes. So Robert got up to demonstrate.
We climbed up to the Gate of the Sun above Machu Picchu, a resting point on the Inca trail where travellers would get their first view of Machu Picchu. The only other hikes left to do were climbing up to the top of Mount Machu Picchu (for a different view of the ruins) and hiking up from the town to the Machu Picchu ruins (to save the six bucks on the bus ride and just for the fun of it) , neither of which we felt was worth the extra effort after so many other hikes, especially since all the hikes in the area are straight up and then straight down. We left the area loving our time spent there, but totally exhausted.
Notice how the shape of the rock mimics the mountain behind it. There were a ton of rocks that did the same things with the various mountains around Machu Picchu. Obviously, the mountains were very important to the site.
Robert examining the wood. "Yup, in my professional opinion, this is really wood. Yup." (To be fair to Robert, he didn't really say that, but he does look like he is very intrigued by the wood.)BTW, we were expecting Aguas Calientes (the closest town to Machu Picchu) to be really horrible and touristy, but we actually really enjoyed staying there. It was like an old wild west mining town, kind of ramshackledly put together, very isolated, and very targeted. Walking down the street was basically hotel, restaurant, Internet cafe, hotel restaurant, Internet cafe, bodega (small store). There was plenty of competition among all the places so prices and service were decent. We got our hotel to go down $15 from the price they quoted us in email because we told them the hotel next door was offering us the same thing for $10 less. Yay for competition! Up next, Lima.
1 comment:
I loved Aguas Calientes too, its such a cool mountain town. But I loved Cusco the most. Didn't make it to Lima, interested to see how you like it.
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