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Becca, Zoe and Katy's Peruvian Adventure
Hi!
We had to split up the entries about the trek as the entry that we wrote yesterday took about 2 hours!
On the last day of the trek we awoke at 5.30am so that we could arrive at Machu Pichu for 7.00am and beat the crowds of other tourists. After a rather terrifying journey up the mountain to the ruins (the coach driver was mental and thought it would make the trip more exciting to overtake other coaches on the outside, when all that is on that side is a cliff edge!) we arrived at the ruins.
The views were amazing as I hope you can tell from the photos that Zoe took, and I don't think that words can do justice the beauty of the ruins. When we arrived, there were hardly any other tourists, so for ages we almost had the place to ourselves. Our guide took us on a 3 hour tour of the ruins, describing everything to us, even if some of his ideas may not quite correspond with those of the experts! He felt that a lot of the archaeologists have got it wrong, and he gave us quite a few of his own theories regarding the ruins!!
The ruins are split into agricultural areas, residential areas and relgious areas, and it was amazing to get an idea of how the Inkas lived. The ruins are amazingly preserved, and you get a really good idea of what it would have looked like all those years ago. The city itself is nestled in between 3 mountains, one of which we climbed in the afternoon, and I can honestly say, I have never seen anything like it. I didn't want to leave at the end of the day. There were llamas roaming around the ruins, keeping the grass nice and short, and we spotted quite a few more wild chinchillas.
We all enjoyed visting the House of the Chosen Ones, as back in the day, this is where the special and beautiful women were sent, so we felt we really belonged! That is until our guide told us that these beautiful and special women were also sacrificed to the gods!!! We also visited the famous sundial at the top of the ruins, and the temples of the sun, and the royal tombs. There was so much to see and take in, that it can't all be described here. All we can say, is that if anyone reading this ever has the chance, you should go and visit, as I don't think that there is anything else quite like it anywhere else.
After our tour, we climbed one of the mountains (Hauna Piccu), and visted the ruins at the top. I must admit, I didn't relish the climb after the 3 days of hard trekking that we had already done, and the climb was not easy. It was nearly all steps, and some of them were vertical and very high, requiring us to go on our hands and knees to reach the top. The sun was also beating down, and I can't really say that the climb was fun, but it was worth it. When we reached the top, the views over the surrounding valleys and Machu Pichu were stunning (the picture of me sleeping at the top was only for a brief rest!!) We sat on rocks at the very top for quite a while, soaking up the sun and the views, knowing that it was unlikely any of us would ever see it again. The only thing was that we had all run out of water on the way up, so we were rather parched! We spent about an hour at the top, before having to make our way back down again, which was much easier, and done in half the time.
By the time we reached the bottom, and were back to the main ruins, we didn't have long before we had to get the coach back down the mountain and get on the train back to Cusco. None of us really wanted to leave having had such an amazing week, and we all rather begrudgingly left the ruins.
The train journey back to Cusco was also rather interesting. We were all treated to a rather special fashion show by the steward and stewardess, and there was even a traditional dance. The dance was quite scary, with the man dressed in a white balaclava, waving a slightly gross looking fake llama in the passengers faces! The fashion show then began, and what a treat it was!! The "models" got rather into it, and some of the gentleman passengers took quite a fancy to the female model!! It was quite a finale to a fantastic week away.
We all feel that we really got to see a completely different side of Peru to the one that we get to see in the quite built up and touristy Cusco. We hope that these two journal entries give you an idea of what we did and saw, but no photos or words will quite give justice to the amazing week.
The next entries will come shortly! We are just trying to catch up!
Lots of love to everyone
xxx
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