Aguas Calientes, Peru - Machu Picchu

I have come to the last post about my adventure in Peru. Kind of sad... I have kind of gotten to relive the trip through blogging about it. However... I have saved the best for last. Not that I didn't love every part of Peru... but come on, the Andie's Mountains are amazing and this is a wonder of the world... the reason most people come to Peru.

Our journey began early morning in Cusco. We got in a van full of tourists and then we were on our way. It was a 6 hour drive to get to the train that takes you to Aguas Calientes. Taking the train of course is kind of expensive, so John and I (like so many others) opted to walk. The walk was about two hours following the train tracks. It was beautiful, but it was kind of long after driving all day through windy mountains and getting kind of car sick and being crowded.. the last part of he drive was on dirt rode which made it even more bumpy. The driving was crazy. They just whip around those mountain... honk going around the corners they couldn't see around so other people would know they were there even though yo can't see them. Sometimes it was better for me not to look at what was going on rather than watch. Anyway, so the walk was beautiful... but yeah, I just wanted to be there. I was the first one out of our van to get there and I got there right as it was getting dark. *John took the bridge picture*

Since it was dark, to couldn't really see the tiny city that took such a journey to get there. We explore a little the next day before we headed back to Cusco though. It was a very cute little town. We ate and shopped a little and just walked around and explored Aguas Calientes.

However, the reason we went through the journey to make it to this little city was to go to Machu Picchu. I was so excited.

Machu Picchu (in hispanicized spelling, Spanish pronunciation: [ˈmatʃu ˈpiktʃu]) or Machu Pikchu (Quechuamachu old, old person, pikchu peak; mountain or prominence with a broad base which ends in sharp peaks, "old peak", pronunciation [ˈmɑtʃu ˈpixtʃu]) is a 15th-century Inca site located 2,430 metres (7,970 ft)above sea level. It is located in the Cusco Region, Urubamba Province, Machupicchu District in Peru.It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Sacred Valley which is 80 kilometres (50 mi) northwest of Cuscoand through which the Urubamba River flows. Most archaeologists believe that Machu Picchu was built as an estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti (1438–1472). Often mistakenly referred to as the "Lost City of the Incas", it is perhaps the most familiar icon of Inca civilization. The Incas built the estate around 1450, but abandoned it a century later at the time of the Spanish Conquest. Although known locally, it was unknown to the outside world before being brought to international attention in 1911 by the American historian Hiram Bingham. Since then, Machu Picchu has become an important tourist attraction. Most of the outlying buildings have been reconstructed in order to give tourists a better idea of what the structures originally looked like. By 1976, thirty percent of Machu Picchu had been restored. The restoration work continues to this day.

You can take difficult hikes and trails to get to Machu Picchu. If we had a lot more time and money, maybe we would have done that. However, we were tight on both... so we took a bus. Turns out that bus takes you right to the wonder. No sweat. We were going to be doing enough hiking around Machu Picchu to give us a work out. We started out with an English tour guide giving a little history. We started early... before the sun came up. Then we were able to explore on our own.

It is no wonder why Machu Picchu is a wonder of the world. I just stood in awe that people could build this. Not just that but it is literally on top of a mountain. The entire view is breath taking. Pictures I had seen of it were great and made me want to come... but even the pictures don't do it justice. It is amazingly beautiful. 

John and I had a great time. So neat that we got to experience that together. In fact, we have done a lot of really cool things together now. That is one of the things I always liked about him. He was always up for an adventure with me. We met almost exactly 8 months earlier at the Coffee Pod in Provo after matching on Tinder. If you would have told me that night that in 8 months I would be in Peru and exploring Machu Picchu with him, I'm pretty sure I would have laughed and said no way. Crazy the way things work out. So glad I got to cross another thing off of my Bucket List. I had been wanting to see Machu Picchu for a long time. It was totally worth the wait.