In between eating, shopping and sleeping, I managed to pull myself away from Cusco for one day and head to Machu Picchu. From Cusco I took a train to a town called Aguas Calientes and from there caught a bus to the mountaintop on which sits the ´lost city´of the Incas.

Machu Picchu was built around the year 1640 and although known locally, it was discovered and brought to Worldwide attention in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, an American Historian. The site was declared a Peruvian Historical Sanctuary in 1981 and in 1983 it was made declared a World Heritage Site. It is now one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

Although long, the train ride up was lovely and very scenic. The site itself was amazing, however, had it not have been for the backdrop of mountainous landscape I don´t think it would have been as dramatic and picturesque. The guide took me, and the rest of the English speaking group, around the whole site. There was so much to see and learn and all of it so interesting. The part that I found most interesting was the size of the blocks the Incas had used to build their settlement - some of the bricks were just huge!