We had an another early wake up call today – at 7:00 AM. Doesn’t sound too bad, until you remember that Peru has a 3-hour time difference from California.

Machu Picchu doesn’t allow eating on the premises – because as usual, tourists ruin things for everyone (wrappers, etc. ). It sounds like more established tour companies, like Gate 1 are allowed to have their guests bring snacks, but we had to be discreet about it.

All of this to say, we tried to eat a big breakfast knowing that lunch would be rather small. We had a short drive to the train station, but we had a few stops along the way.

We stopped in a working Inca village – which was really cool. A lot of the walls, roads, canals were over 800 years old! It was nice to see some of the traditional dress – some women would hike down 6 miles to trade in the village before making the same return trek that day. Felt like a different world!

We then finished the bus ride to our train station in Ollantaytambo. We took the Voyager Train to Machu Picchu, which was about an 1.5 hour train ride. They even had a performance on the train – felt like a Disney movie with star crossed lovers. It was nice.

Upon getting to Aguas Calientes – we had to take a bus to Machu Picchu. If you’re keeping track we have taken – planes, trains, buses, and automobiles to get to this wonder of the world! 😂

AND IT WAS ALL WORTH IT!

Once we got there – we split off into two groups: the easy route vs. the spot that most pictures you’ve seen from Machu Picchu come from. We obviously took the harder path.

Machu Picchu, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is a remarkable Incan citadel nestled in the Andes Mountains of Peru. It was built in 1438-1472 and then was abandoned in 1532 (?) No one knows why!

It was abandoned for over 400 years before being rediscovered. It was incredible! At this point, we only have one wonder of the modern world left – and all of them make sense. The Inca civilization is one I’m just scraping the surface with – I’ve learned so much about the Mayans. Although completely different, I kept drawing similarities between the two.

We had a walking tour for about 2.5 hours around the area – there was a lot of UP at a high elevation (not as high as Cusco – thankfully!), but still higher than the sea-level area we live in.

I’ll spam the pictures down below – and post descriptions in the captions.

We ended the night with a group dinner. After dinner finished, we went out for a drink with a group of gals from Kentucky (in a treehouse!).We ended the night with a group dinner. After dinner finished, we went out for a drink with a group of gals from Kentucky (in a treehouse!).

Accommodations: El MaPi (Aguas Calientes)

Up Next:

• Walking tour of Machu Picchu village
• Pisco Sour tasting
• Train ride back to Cusco