This morning I woke up not feeling very well again. Mainly I
was weak and just didn’t have an appetite. My fingers were also tingly, most
likely from lack of oxygen over the past few days. I forced some food down at
breakfast and drank some coca tea. Coca is a leaf they have here that helps
with altitude sickness. They have it in tea and candy form.
We took a bus to the train station. While at the train
station we met a group of students from University of Michigan who were staying
in Cusco for 4 weeks doing an art program with weaving. The end of their trip
was nearing as well.
The train ride was around 3 hours, but it was beautiful. We
rode through the valleys of the Andes all the way, going over parts of streams
connecting to the Amazon River and by many peaks, including one called Victoria
Peak. I sat next to Ally on the train, and we were facing a couple from Brazil.
Luckily they spoke English. They were visiting Machu Picchu as well for the
first time. They said they had a 14 year old daughter studying at an American
school in Brazil and a 6 year old son studying in a Canadian school in Brazil.
They told us about Brazil and how the capital city, which used to be Rio, was
moved to a different location about 60 years ago. An architect designed an entire
new city called Brasilia located more in the middle of the country which is
where the capital now resides. It is not as populated as Rio and is used more
for political and business reasons.
We arrived in a town called Aguas Calientes, which is
located at the base of Machu Picchu in a valley between the mountains. We
dropped off our luggage at the hotel (which was extremely nice!) and headed up.
We took a bus that followed a windy road up the mountain to take us to the
Incan ruins.
The mountain range once we got up there was amazing! There
were so many mountains and peaks I couldn’t believe it was real life. The
change in land was very dramatic. The shadows, the points, the greenery…all
spectacular.
We got a very good view of the entire ruins from the
beginning. I couldn’t believe it was real life. Ana walked around with Kristi
and I for most of the afternoon. It was not as crowded there as I expected
since it was a Saturday and the weather was perfect. In July and August they
actually shut down Machu Picchu to visitors because it is colder and the
weather isn’t very good for views.
Machu Picchu had a lot of stairs, and they took the energy
out of me real quick. I don’t know how the Incans did it everyday. Ana and I
had to stop periodically to take breaks. Usually Kristi is the one with the
breathing problems, but she was the one encouraging us to keep going!
The rocks (well actually more like boulders) that created
this fortress were put together very tightly and precisely. Each stone had an
exact place it could fit in the mold. The Incans obviously built it well
because we were allowed to walk all over it. Usually places with ruins are blocked off from
tourists to actually walk on and touch. We were allowed to sit on the walls,
touch the rocks, and climb the stairs just like the Incans did!
There was a tree growing in the middle of the ruins that
really made a statement. I’m not sure if the Incans planted it or if it just
naturally started growing there, but it is growing right in the middle of a
large open grassy space all by itself. It looked like an African tree, and it
was really neat to see it thriving in the middle of this memorial.
Something else that was thriving were llamas! Wild llamas
were roaming around the ruins, eating the grass and tormenting the tourists.
They weren’t afraid of tourists that’s for sure. The llamas are pretty much
permanent lawn mowers up there, and they must like it because they were hopping
from one terrace to another like it was just a small step.
There were some pretty severe drop offs towards the edges of
the city in the sky. We found an awesome little cliff that stuck out over
everything in a nice shaded area. The sun gets pretty hot up there since we are
a lot closer to it that normal, so shade was lovely to find. We sat up there
and stared out over God’s creation, and took some really cool pictures, of
course. There was tiny little pellet poop on this cliff, and we were curious
what animal it belonged to, because it definitely wasn’t from a llama.
As we were walking away from our secluded lookout point, Kristi
spotted something amazing. All she said to me was “I see an animal, but I’m not
going to say what it is because I don’t want to get your hopes up if I’m
wrong.” Luckily, she wasn’t wrong. On the side of the drop off she saw 2
chinchillas taking a break from their nocturnal slumber! They were much bigger
than my pet chinchilla, Vinny, but they were definitely chinchillas. They had
the ears and the squirrel looking tail and the fluffy soft fur. They didn’t
move much, and had the puffy sleepy eyes that Vinny always has during the day.
I was looking over the edge at them and Ana about had a heart attack, so we had
to retreat.
I ran into a girl with an AXO shirt on a few minutes later.
She was from Virginia Tech. So cool to find a sorority sister at the most
random place!
In Machu Picchu the Incans had a large stone called the
Energy Rock. And I was in need of some energy. Legend has it if you touch the
rock it gives you energy. So naturally I hugged the rock, trying to transfer as
much energy from the rock to my body as I could. I don’t think it worked, but
it was worth a shot.
A little while later after walking through the ruins, we saw
another chinchilla, this time even closer! He had the same sleepy eyes, but
didn’t seem afraid of us. We watched him for a while, and he sat there being
sleepy. Then he ran up higher in the rocks, just like Vinny, and as quick as
Vinny.
Towards the end of our visit, Kristi and I climbed up onto a
secluded terrace overlooking the ruins. Kristi sketched and I sat and rested.
It got a bit toasty since we were sitting in the sun, but it was an amazing
view. We sat there for about an hour, then headed back down to the entrance for
the bus. We also got our passport stamped with a Machu Picchu stamp! Pretty
cool!
We took the winding road back down on the bus to Aguas
Calientes. We browsed through the market and went to dinner. I did not have an
appetite, so I forced down some tomato soup and spaghetti. After a refreshing
shower in one of those heavenly rain shower heads, I passed out.
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