Machu Picchu!

After La Paz, we arrived at Copacaba (The Bolivia side of Lake Titicaca) and did a full day tour to Isla del Sol, which is the orgin of Inca worship. The boat ride was soooo slow it was almost painful. On the upside, my travelling companions from Australia and Ireland were both accused of being from the US and Canada which I found to be hilarious, they´ve obviously spent too much time around me. Mwahaha.

Our trip to Peru turned out to be a little crazier than expected. We had decided to book a nicer bus for the 4 hour journey and got scammed by a tour agency. This agency books people on buses that they dont actually work with, including our bus. The bus driver ended up letting us stay on the bus after the agency refused to pay them the fare we payed, so we didnt ended up on the side of the road in the middle of Bolivia as expected.

We did a tour of the floating Islands on the Peru side of Lake Titicaca which was like visiting an exhibit at the Epcott center. It was pretty cool to see around 40 islands made of reeds, where people really do live, but it was soooo touristy. We also went to Tequile Island which was really cool. This island is a world heritage site because of having the finest weavers in the world. I spent most of the day talking to kids and teaching them how to ¨high five¨.

Once in Cusco I tagged along with a couple of Swiss guys who said they were off to see a market in Pisaq. After shopping the markets, we went up to see some Incan ruins. It was like a mini Macchu Picchu and very beautiful. We got a ride to the top of the hill and then hiked back down into town which included many stops for crazy photos.

A few days later Jnae and I headed the backway to Machu Picchu! This included a local bus ride with chicken, ducks in a box and the random smell of cheese for about 5 hrs on the most terrifying road Ive been on so far. It was raining, we were on steep cliff roads hugging the wrong side and going pretty fast. At point the bus had to pass through sections of the road where a waterfall was cascading over the road. The water pressure was so strong that our bus was slowly being pushed towards the edge of the cliff as well creeped our way around the bends. So what does the driver do?!?! BACK UP AND DO IT AGAIN! Jnae and I were the only gringos on the bus except for a french couple and were also the only ones freaking out. We drove over some LAND SLIDES and eventually made it to Santa Maria. From there we hopped into a ¨Taxi¨which was essentially some teenage dudes car with no working gages. Again, terrifying dirt roads, going way to fast but I think I was numb to the fear of death at the point and was enjoying the scenery which had turned into a pretty dense jungle.

We arrived at Hydro and started hiking the abandoned train tracks at around 5pm. The tracks would bridge some pretty intense rapids that surrounded the base of Machu Picchu meaning you would be walking the beams across parts of the water. That was pretty cool while we could still see, but once the sun set...lets just say I was really tired of fearing for my life at the point. Jnae and I, along with the french couple that caught up to us, hiked thru the pitch black jungle for about an hour before we hit Aguas Calientes (the town at the base of Machu Picchu). After a day of high humidity, death roads and a lot of fast walking in high altitude, Jnae and I just needed a drink, a pizza and a bed.

We got up at 4am and arrived at the top of Machu Picchu at 6am to watch the sunrise. I cannot even describe how beautiful and peaceful it was. We managed to snag some tickets to climb Huana Picchu (they only issue 400 tickets a day). The climb up was almost vertical at some points, you basically are hoisting yourself up rocks jutting out from the side of the mountain. The hilarious part is when we make it thru the cave at the very top and just see this little stick ladder you have to climb and no where else to go. So you climb up the ladder, peak over the top of the boulder and realise you have to go bouldering to get yourself to the other side of the mountain where you head back down. Did I mention it was raining at this point? Jnae and I had an amazing time up there despite the slick rocks and somehow made it to the bottom without falling off the side of the mountain.

All in all Machu Picchu is pretty cool and would recommend anyone going to make sure they get there the second the gates open at 6am. Once we were back down from Huana Picchu the whole place was filled with senior citizen groups in neon rain coats (making a good picture impossible). I have read that Machu Picchu is actually slipping a little bit every year and wont be around forever, so go see this wonder of the world while you still can!