Highlights: Machu Picchu
It’s hard to describe how incredible this place really is. It’s amazing that they let you walk through it and touch the stones and experience this place like the Inca’s did. We hired a guide when we arrived at the entrance and he was able to tell us what the different sections were used for from the farm terraces, to ceremonial areas, to the military residences to the areas of where wealthy families lived. They were very agrarian where they actually studied how altitude affected the growth of their produce. They developed over 3000 varieties of potatoes. We also learned that Machu Picchu was left unfinished. There is evidence of an area that had just begun work and was left unfinished. The craftsmanship varied depending on the area of citadel, but they were clearly adept at stonework.
We loved the Alpacas that helped keep the grass nice and even and watched over the city.
We hiked to the very top. It was a strenuous hike with thousands of steps, but was worth it, even with the pain that lasted for days afterwards. It is a really a special place, and it was inspiring to imagine how the Inca people engineered and developed these mountains.
These are some of the original steps that the Inca’s built up to Machu Picchu Mountain.
So many steps. Some staircases were literally on the edge of a cliff. We learned many people died in the process of making the Machu Picchu citadel.
Andrzej has really embraced meditation, and this was the perfect spot. It wasn’t very crowded at the top of Machupicchu Mountain, and we stayed until the park official said it was time to go. The mountain peak was in the clouds nearly the whole time we were there.
On our way down there were better views without the clouds blocking our view of the citadel. You can see how the Inca’s must have lopped off the top of this mountain peak for their city.
After a long flight from Poland to Peru we arrived early in the morning into Lima, Peru. Lima was cool, but we didn’t take very many photos there. We did get out for some surfing and explored the areas of Miraflores and Barranca, which had a great bohemian vibe and the food was second best to Vietnam in our book.
Highlights: Food
