A Peruvian Summer: Machu Picchu

And now for the post we've all been waiting for (myself included).

Machu Picchu was INCREDIBLE!!!! Let me just say, pictures could never do the place justice. I have seen many pictures of Machu Picchu to prepare myself, but I was still left feeling stunned and speechless at the majestic beauty that surrounded me. The mountains themselves are something to be awed at. The Incas picked the prime spot because there is a mountain in every direction. In fact, the guide explained that Cuzco comes from an ancient word that means "center." The Incas picked the center of this particular mountain range. When standing on the ruins, Machu Picchu points exactly South (Machu Picchu is technically just one mountain, not the name for the ruins. It means "old mountain") while Huayna Picchu points North (the "young mountain"). The Incas were brilliant in the way that they used geography and astronomy. They used the star constellations to tell the winter/summer solstices and what the weather was going to be like. Throughout the whole tour, I felt very impressed with this civilization's ingenuity and resourcefulness. The Spanish never found this city, and so for the most part it has been left exactly how it used to be.

From our hostel in Cuzco, Laurel and I took a taxi to the bus, a bus to the train, the train to another bus, and then rode that bus up to the ruins. It is quite the process. Most people take days doing it because they hike in, but since we were limited on time, we just did it in one day. I was okay with that, because this way we had fresh legs and minds to explore all over the ruins. There truly is a lot to see. After the tour, Laurel and I were given free time to explore. We went all over and took lots of pictures. At the end of the day we went through the whole travel process again and returned to our hostel. It was quite the day, but Machu Picchu was probably one of my favorite places that I have ever seen.