San Agustin Urubamba

... ruins which impose themselves on a hillside overlooking the town.
They were pretty impressive once more, with stacks of terraces, an
unfinished temple (the Spanish interrupted them), a stone quarry with
half-finished blocks in place, some storehouses and fountains. Even
looking around the immediate hillsides I could see several other
ruins and a load of terraces also left by the Incas. They were a busy
people!




I didn't spend toooo long
Machu Picchu, Sacred Valley, Peru lisa.gillespie

... complex was really cool!

Sat in the lukewarm pool for about 3 hours and marveled at the scenery. Thought to myself...today is the first day of autumn (or spring - depending on your hemisphere) and here I sit on the outskirts of Machu Picchu gazing at the mountains around me with a cool drink in my hand. How many times in my life will I be able to say those words !?!

Met with the local tour organizer, Jorge, at about 7pm for ...

... up to the highest pass at 4200m above sea level followed by basically a 1km descent, which is tough on the knees. Day 3 was for sure the best in terms of views and other minor Inca sites visited along the trek. but they were all early starts, with the latest wake up call being 5.20am. Ouch. Day 3īs camp site is a big affair which even had the luxury of hot showers and beers on offer and despite the insanely early wake ...

Two long days of hard slog, but the best was yet to come. We were promised that day 3 would be the most picturesque, which it was, but also that it would be easier than day 2, which it wasnīt! The route was cetainly not quite as strenuous as yesterday, but at 15km, it was still quite a challenge and would prove to be a long day.

This part of the route, as well as being the most scenic, was also the most ...

... lots of people there but the complex was large enough to absorb them all and the place was very far from crowded.
The masonry of the Incas was impressive-obelisk size rocks were created the mortar-less walls. They looked like they were measured to the millimeter. They had various geometrical shapes and they were all incredibly neatly puzzled together. Inca masons would have kicked ass in Tetris.
Before 8 we headed up to Wayna Picchu and signed in-we ...

... Andean area of Peru is pretty much their homebase. Anyway, we also had an appetizer of ricotta croquettes (little fried cheese balls) with a tomato sauce and a side of tomato sherbet! That was actually pretty much why we ordered it. Whenever we travel we always get whatever we can't or don't normally get in the U.S. so we saw the sherbet and figured why not. The verdict: good! It was as advertised - a scoop of sherbet with tomato flavor and it actually ...

... woke up at 5:00 am and I was tired and we were on our way to Machu Picchu. I slept on the train. It was a 3 hour train ride from Cusco to Aguas Calientes.

It was a very steep hill we had to walk up before we got to the Hotel. We slept for hour. Then we walked to the Macchi Picchu museum. It had a lot of information and it was very interesting, I even signed the book on the way out.

We heard there was hot springs so we changed in to our ...

... I could get sleep. (this happens often in hostels)- If you can’t beat’em, join em. Right? I got up around 2 and headed to the rave in the hills next to the ruins. It was pretty stupid to be honest with you, but there were about 20-30 people there, doin their little trance thing. I spent most of my time at the gate chatting with Gabriel and Victor, both locals that were running the joint. We got to know eachother really well, talking about Inkan mysticism and ...

... we pull up in our incredibley expensive taxi, to take one look from above and say..yup, thanks.... lets move on..... but what we do enjoy is the salt terraces. stood on oneside of a steep valley, salt is harvested and put in EVERYTHING.....! even down to your salad.... we can see now why.. there is a lot of it, and its quite a good sight...never new how it was harvested...but here is obviously ...