Peru/ Machu Picchu

After about a two hour wait at the Santiago airport on December 1^st, I was finally able to give Sean a hug!  It was so exciting to see him after 4 ½ months.  

 We then hopped on a bus and headed to our hotel.  We stayed in Santiago for two nights just to explore the city.  We visited the zoo, ate some great food (aka pastel de choclo) and had a wine tasting at the Concho y Toro Vineyard.  

After a few busy days wandering around Santiago it was finally time to head to Peru!  We woke up at 4:00am on December 3^rd and caught a taxi to the airport.  We were told we would have to pick up our bags and go through customs in Lima, which we weren’t worried about because we had a 2 hour layover.  We arrived in Lima a little later than expected, but got our bags right away and flew through customs.  We thought we were doing fine on time, but we were wrong.  Since it was less than an hour before our flight, they wouldn’t let us recheck our bags.  So we were frantically trying to get on a later flight when one of the LAN employees told us that if we were to make it to the gate in the next 10 minutes we could check our bags there.  We ran like there was no tomorrow, made it through security in 5 minutes and barely made it to the gate in time.  We boarded the plane and about an hour later we were in Cusco.  

We took a taxi to our hostel (Loki) and got situated into our room.  The view was absolutely amazing from the bedroom!  We could see all of Cusco.   

  

We went down to the bar (which was located in the hostel) for a Corona and some stir fry.  As I was eating, I kept noticing Loki advertisements for “bloodbombs.”  I was curious as to what it was and made the mistake of asking the bartender.  Turns out when you ask what a bloodbomb is, the only way to find out is to take one.  It’s vodka, Redbull, and a little bit of grenadine…doesn’t sound too bad, right?  Well it is.  NEVER DO A BLOODBOMB.  

Our day continued with a visit to the San Pedro market (the oldest open air market in Cusco).  Combined, we ate dinner for about $3 USD.  The prices were incredible!  We also did a little souvenir shopping there.

 

The very next day we were off to explore Machu Picchu.  Once again, we awoke at 4am and hopped in a taxi.  The taxi took us to a little bus station, where we were crammed into a van with a bunch of locals.  After about a 2 hour drive, we arrived in the little town of Ollantaytambo.  From there we took Perurail to Auguas Calientes which took about 1 ½ hours.  Finally we took a 30 minute bus ride to the top of Machu Picchu where we met up with our guide.  We had a wonderful walking tour and then had the rest of the day to explore on our own.  Machu Picchu was breathtaking.  I can’t describe how incredible it was to be there and to witness, firsthand, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.  It was truly an amazing day. 

We didn’t get back to Loki until midnight, so we just headed straight to bed.  

We took a walking tour the next day, and then went out to a nice dinner.  Sean ordered the “Cuy al Horno” (guinea pig) and I ordered the alpaca.  Both of which were very tasty!  The guinea pig tasted pretty much like chicken and the alpaca was a little similar to pork. 

  

Our last full day in Cusco, we took a quad tour through the Sacred Valley.  When we started the trip it was a gorgeous day, but about an hour into it we found ourselves in the middle of a torrential downpour.  We stopped to view a few more Incan ruins (and warm up a bit) midway through, and then it was time to head back.  We arrived at the starting point about 2 hours later, completely drenched and covered from head to toe in mud.  Definitely a successful tour. 

We packed up our things that night, and headed back to Chile the next morning.