Monday, September 3, 2007

One of the Seven Wonders of the World!!!





Well this weekend was absolutely amazing, well let me start off with that Appalachian State beat #5 Michagan, Heck YEAH!!!! ok now that I have that out of the way I will talk about another amazing thing. Jay and I went to Machu Picchu this weekend. It is now one of the new wonders of the world. Saturday we took a 7am train ride out of Cusco into Aguas Calientes, which is the town closest to Machu Picchu. It tooks about 4 hours to get there and the scenery changed dramatically. Beautiful lush green mountains, flowers, butterflys, it was amazing. The mountains are so gigantic here, you can't even compare them to the Rockies. How did the Incas do it?? They must have been amazing people. The first day on our adventure outside of the city we got some advice from our teacher of this great hike that gives a great view of Machu Picchu. This was not just any regular hike, when you are hiking in the Andes, you better know what you are getting yourself into. We hiked up a peak about 3,000 to 4,000 feet up, But straight up, not a gradual incline. It was intense. WE had to climb up ladders, one particular ladder was about 4 stories high. It was a little scary but definatley worth all the effort. The view was amazing of Machu Picchu. Hiking back down this four story ladder was a little more intense then going up. I have come to the conclusion that I would like to go up any day then down, wow I know what your thinking, but trust me, If you are ever trekking in the Andes, DOWN is harder!!!We were exhausted. The next day we woke up at 4:45 to catch one of the first busses up the hairpin turns to Machu Picchu. This is truely one of the seven wonders of the world. We took about an hour tour of the ruins and then Jay and I hiked up Wayanapicchu, which is the peak that you see in all the pictures of Machu Picchu. It only took us about 30 minutes, but we did not stop. The entire way was stairs, very, very steep stairs. But again the top was worth it. We spent all day lying on the terraces of Machu Picchu, ate a picnic lunch, then hiked around more of this incredible site. We were absolutely exhuasted by the end of this weekend. We caught our train back to Cusco at 5 pm and didn't arrive until 9:30, very long trip. This is such a worth while trip. Words cannot even describe with words, even the pictures do not do it justice.

1 comment:

Anna said...

Hey, sounds like your trip was awesome...I am still so mad at myself that I missed your call, I know you do not get many chances to get in touch. Hope all is well, and tell your hubbie hello!