Las Daddies en Motos: The first 10 days in Peru...128 days to go

We're our way to Santiago, Chile after 10 days in Peru. We flew from Ft. Lauderdale with my grandmother, Devin, and Allison to Lima. We spent the night then took a plane to Cuzco, spent the night and caught a train to Aguas Calientes, which is a small town just around the bend and a steep 500m climb or in our case, a bus ride to Machu Picchu.

Perurail, a beautiful and comfy ride from Cuzco

Step off the train into the tourist's market

The bus stop to Machu Picchu was easy to find with this intricate, mini fabrication marking the spot

Narrow, steep and busy streets of Aguas Calientes

The main plaza

Walking along the train tracks with grandma

We spent three nights in Aguas Calientes in a small hostel of which there are many for all of the thousand of travelers who come here every year. It's a bit of a tourist area that way but still with very good food and friendly people. One thing we didn't do was spend enough time in Cuzco BEFORE visiting Machu Picchu. We had a bit of difficulty with the altitude adjustment and were huffing and puffing up the steep Inca trails and stairways. Cuzco is at a higher elevation and most people spend a few days there before coming the Machu Picchu. We did spend a few days there after leaving Machu Picchu and had a great time exploring there.

Machu Picchu was as grand as is fabled and was definitely worth all the travel and planning to get there.

Note the face shape in the mountain

View from our arduous, non-acclimated climb to the sun pass.

Temple of the sun

Lousy with llamas

Steep steepes. There also a llama up there

After a train ride back to Cuzco we settled in for a few days to explore the small city. We stayed near the main plaza and walked by and admired the cathedrals there everyday and appreciated the Incan influence there. The city is built on Incan stone foundations which are quite impressive in that the granite stone is carved and matched to each neighboring stone as there is no need for mortar. We saw examples of this in Machu Picchu and in the ruins in the Sacred Valley also which we took a tour of one of the days.

Famous 12-sided stone in the walls of San Blas in Cuzco.

Plaza de Armas

High school kids practicing traditional dance. The high school was just around the corner.

View from our place

Pisaq in the Sacred Valley

Another view is the Plaza

Inca museum. I took pictures

Just of this mummy...and the sign telling me not to take pictures

View from one of the hills over Cuzco. A nice walk up and we found these sheep

Peru is gorgeous and very easy to visit, especially the tourist sites as most people working in these industries speak English. I am sadly not getting much practice but our cab driver on the way to the airport today says Chile has fewer English speakers.

After Cuzco we stayed in Lima again for about 24 hours. We managed to see a lot though. Lima is amazing and I hope to visit again. Last night we saw the Huaca Pucllana pre-Incan temple site. They illuminate the structure and have night tours which was pretty neato. The bricks are arranged in a 'book shelf' technique that is earthquake proof. The spacing is part of the design. Though they look haphazard they have survived for 1,500 years. The Liman, Wari, and Yshmeh all 'took turns' using this sight for ceremony and trade in the plaza below.