The day after viewing Machu Picchu, my sister and I spent a full day in Aguas Calientes (the town directly below Machu Picchu). This was due to the fact that, while our train tickets last minute, they were sold out of all tickets except for very late at night. So we opted to stay a full day in AC and leave in the morning. It’s a good thing we did. After 6 hours of hiking at Machu Picchu, the day before, we were both really sore. The day was spent sipping hot tea and coffee, window shopping at the local market, and just relaxing. As much as I love crazy adventures abroad, I’m equally enamored with relaxing and soaking up the scenery.
The next morning we took the train back to Ollantaytambo. We got there at about 11, ate some lunch and found a hostel for the night. After that, we were told it was a short 45 minute hike to some Inca pools accross the river. We decided to go for it and, while walking, we almost immediately got lost.
Luckily, getting lost led us to an old Incan structure that we explored all by overselves.
After this, we couldn’t find the path leading to the bridge across the river, so we just scrambled down an embankment and walked along the train tracks. We were slightly nervous when we passed by a crew who was working on the tracks, but they totally didn’t care that we were there. They just smiled and waved.
We found the bridge, hiked across it, and started looking for the Inca Pool. Fast forward and hour and the Inca Pool was no where in sight. That, coupled with our already sore legs and feet meant that we called it for the day and turned around to hike back.
We had a pretty good view before we turned around. From here you can see the train station that arrived in down on the bottom right across the river. There is a valley in the center of the photo. To the left of the valley, you can see Ollantaytambo fort, an old Incan Fortress. At the foot of the hill to the right of the valley, you can see some other Incan structures (remember these, they factor in later). After we hoofed it back to town, we relaxed on the balcony of the hostel, had some dinner, and then took a well deserved sleep.
The next morning, we decided to do some hiking in the morning before heading back to Cusco. Remember those buildings on the right side of the valley? Well we hiked up there.
I’m not sure what this structure was, but I had a great time climbing on it.
There some other structures up the hill. The manager at our hostel told us that there were warehouses for the Inca.
After we were done hiking, we had to get back to Cusco. While walking to the bus depot, we were once again offered a ride in another car. We took up the offer and were able to garner a ride back to Cusco for about $2.50.
I feel like this post is getting long, so we’re going to speed up the pace a little bit. We spent 2 days in Cusco, splitting our time between shopping, sightseeing, and trying some food (Cuy, or guinea pig, ain’t too bad). Cusco has some amazing cathedrals. Check them out!
These stones are all original Incan Masonry. They achieved these amazing seamless fits without any sort of mortar. Amazing.
Lida and I at Iglesia de Merced (I’m only about 80% sure about that. There are A LOT of Cathedrals there)
Qurikancha, behind me, was an Incan temple (you can see it’s square, grey stones) that has a Catholic Cathedral built on top of it.
Cusco’s Central Square, Plaza de Armas at night. On the left is the Basilica Cathedral, on the left is the Iglesia de Compaña. This is a pretty famous Cusco locale.
Some detail inside the Iglesia de Santa Catalina (again, about 80% sure on that).
The Basilica Cathedral from the balcony of the Iglesia de la Compañia
When it was all said and done, we flew back to the States on New Years Day 2014. South America set me at 5 continents for the year for the second year in a row (unless you count two 3 hour layovers in Amsterdam, which puts me at 6 this year). It was a short trip, but it was a great one and I was very thankful to have been able to share it with my younger sister. As much as I love traveling, it’s an experience that is improved with more people.
And so, I’m finally caught up to this year and I’m only 3 months behind! The last month has been pretty crazy, so look forward to more news and happenings in the coming week.
Chilly Philly: My Life on the Rocks 