No Thought

We’ve heard about it, we’ve read about it in books, we’ve seen it in movies, and this last weekend we saw it for ourselves. I have said many different variations of that since Friday. All of the reasons I have said that are for one thing: Machu Picchu. One of the Seven Wonders of the World. I actually learned that it is pronounced Machu Picchu (peek-choo) because of the two C’s in Picchu. I also learned that it means Old Mountain in Quechua (one of the three languages spoken in Peru).

We started our trip off Friday morning at 4:30 to be at the airport by 6. For some reason we were told to be at the airport by 6 to sit around until we boarded at 9:30. Security wasn’t even hard to get through. They let us take liquids through and didn’t make us take our shoes off or anything. Peru operates differently in the airport security department. We indulged ourselves at Dunkin’ Donuts before boarding the plane for an hour flight to Cusco. When we got to Cusco we drank some mate de coco tea so we would not get sick from the altitude there. We ate some lunch and then went on a tour of Cusco. One of the places we went to were some ruins called Saqsaywaman (pronounced as sexy woman). Some of the girls were able to go down a natural rock slide and most of us made it through the tunnel to the underworld. We came out on the other side of the huge rock, but we had to squat to get though. It was so dark and I got so claustrophobic that I almost had a panic attack and went back up. I pushed through though because the girls ahead of me said that they saw light ahead. We also toured a church in Cusco that reminded me a lot of the Notre Dame. 

I used to think that Cusco was the town where Machu Picchu was. I need to take some geography classes again. We got on a bus at 6:20 in the morning on Saturday and took the most beautiful 2 hour bus ride through the mountains to a train station. We then took an amazing 2 hour train ride to the town of Aguas Calientes, which is at the base of the trek to Machu Picchu. There was so much plant life on the train ride and sometimes I felt like I was in the mountains, jungle, and the hills in Blair, Nebraska all at once. Upon arriving in Aguas Calientes we got on the scariest 30 minute bus ride up the mountain to the entrance of Machu Picchu. I will leave how scary the bus ride was to your imagination. Just know that there were no guard rails and it was mostly a straight drop down. The turns were also very sharp and there was a constant line of buses coming up and down the mountain.

Our bus stopped a couple times on our way to
Machu Picchu so we could take some pictures!

Machu Picchu here come some Lopers! 

Another stamp was put in my passport after we went through Machu Picchu!! We climbed a few flights of rocky stairs to get an amazing view of Machu Picchu. Pictures don’t even begin to show how amazing this place was. Some people say they feel something spiritual when they see Machu Picchu. I am not going to lie, I think I felt that something spiritual. There was a time while I was looking at it that I was completely speechless and I did not have a single thought in my head. Based on what I know about spiritual enlightenment, no thought is one of the most powerful things you can experience. For one of the first times in my life, I had no thought. We did not have much time to look at it though because our tour guide, Nilo, moved us along so fast through everything that we did not have time to just relax and look. I learned some cool things from him about Incan history, but I would have much rather spent my 3 hours in Machu Picchu wondering around on my own and taking my time. I can’t even begin to explain, even in English, how amazing it was there so I will just let the pictures do the talking.

I had an apple for the llamas and
they swarmed me so I threw the apple and ran.

Sunday we toured more of the surrounding towns of Cusco and saw some more ruins in Sacred Valley. We also got to shop around in some markets and I thought I might have bought more than I could get back to the United States, but I put it all in my suitcase when I got back to Lima and luckily it all fit! I just cannot buy anything else. There were some little girls in one of the markets that we could pay 1 sol to take a picture with and I couldn’t resist because they were just so cute!

Terraces of the Incas.

They were so cute!!! 

We ate at the most amazing restaurant I have ever seen. Just because it was a buffet with incredible Peruvian food was not the only reason it was the best restaurant I have eaten at (although it did play a part). When we got there, there were birds in cages outside surrounded by beautiful plants and trees. The place where the tables were looked out at the Sacred River and we were surrounded by a very beautiful landscape with the flowers, trees, and berms (as the daughter of a former landscaper, I can appreciate the work that went into that). There were also llamas and an alpaca there that we got to take some pictures with and feed! Unfortunately I do not have any of those pictures with me right now. That night we all went into the main square of Cusco and we split up to go to different restaurants and eat. Such a small world because we saw some people from Nebraska that told us they go to college in Wayne and Chadron and are here backpacking for 12 days!

Main square in Cusco. On the left side of the picture is the
church we toured that reminded me of the Notre Dame. 

Go Huskers!!

Mariah

Random Things

• Facebook is just called “Face” here. One lady asked if she could have my face and I was a little confused until I remembered that “Face” is what they call Facebook!
• School has started and I can hear little kids crying every morning because they do not want to leave their parents.
• There are 3 official languages of Peru and one of them was spoken in Cusco. It is called Quechua and is spoken by the people that live in the Sierra.