Machu Picchu!!

2-2-11

Machu Picchu today! Today was amazing! We got up at 4:30 and took a car to the train station, the train to Aguascalientes, and a bus to the bottom of Machu Picchu. Then we proceeded to walk along with a guide for an hour and a half (or so) and learn some of the history of Machu Picchu. First of all, Machu (in Quechua) means old and Picchu means mountain. Therefore we don’t know the name of the settlement, rather the name of the mountain itself. The mountain next door is called Huana Picchu, which means Young Mountain. We arrived at around 8:30 in the morning when the surrounding mountains were still hidden by clouds. February is the rainy season, so it was cold and wet, but as the sun rose it got super hot! I’m glad that we started early. (Sidenote- there were baby llamas! Only three weeks old!) We walked all around, and after the tour ended we climbed up to the house on the very top! However, apparently Donaldo took a group up (running!) even higher to go meditate and go where very few go. I was jealous! We kept trying to find Donaldo but he was always too far ahead of us, waving from afar. Mostly we just looked around at the majesty around us! The river that runs below Machu Picchu is one of the sources of the Amazon. Our guide told us that Machu Picchu is unaffected by earthquakes because the whole mountain underneath has to move, not just the settlement. Ummm Hiram Bingham did not in fact “discover” it because there were two families that lived up there at the time that showed him around! I took about 150 photos! I will certainly put some up when I have better internet access able to handle that.

In short, Machu Picchu was incredible and my favorite part of being there was watching the clouds move and change around us. I also loved thinking about how the place came to be built! Incan building, especially for temples, was sooo precise! There are exact levels and degrees to each wall and one temple had an amazing amplification effect. Ask me about it!

However, there was so much else that happened today! The train in the morning only played three songs on repeat. Panpipe versions of Love Hurts, Killing Me Softly, and some other song. Horrible! They’re still stuck in my head. The train back was much better! I sat with Maggie (S) and Alma and we probably laughed for two hours straight! We told embarrassing stories, like I told them about the Thanksgiving Elevator Catastrophe, and Maggie told us about an horrific sunburn and the hilarious story that accompanied it. THEN the people working on the train began to put on quite the show! One guy dressed up in a scary jester-y outfit and danced around making others join him. Kia and Alma were forced into it! Then the other two people put on a fashion show down the aisles of the train of various alpaca sweaters. We were so puzzled and then we all just found it spectacularly funny. Then at dinner I had a wonderful conversation with Olivia, who I hadn’t really talked to yet, and we related really well. Overall a great day! Then after dinner we played a fun game of Charades around the fire and the two little girls joined in (they are so cute!) I feel like I’ve rushed through the summary of the day, but it was amazing. I really enjoyed myself and I hope that I continue to have a great time!

Ps- I have to switch host families apparently cause my first one had cats! And I’m allergic! Shoot!

xo Claire