All that is pretty: Machu Picchu

Well, finally here are my pics from Machu Picchu.

I ended up doing the Inka Jungle Trek (one of many alternative treks to the original Inka Trail) with Niamh and Mig, who I met in Pisco. The trek was 4 days and 3 nights and involved biking downhill, trekking, trekking and more trekking and climbing a bunch of mountains.

The first day we started out by driving to the site where we´d begin our bike part. It was not hard, but it was painful. We biked over a rocky road for 3 hours and by the end, my arms and legs were vibrating on their own. Then, we trekked some.

We spent the first night in a little village called Santa Maria. The next day, we took a truck into the jungle and began trekking from there for 3 hours.

We stopped for a 2 hour lunch break, which involved having 2 naps in a hammock. Then we took off on some more trekking until we got to the thermal baths near Santa Theresa. The trek that day was really hard and involved some serious climbing up mountains. The thermal baths were pretty amazing! There were three different pools, one hot, one warm and one cold. Also, there were some hot showers outdoors that I took advantage of. That night we stayed in Santa Theresa. The next day our group opted to take the bus to the Hidroelectric station (where the train tracks began) and hike from there (3 hours) to Aguas Caliente. After we got to Aguas Caliente, we decided to climb up another mountain that has a great view of Machu Picchu. It was incredibly strenuous, but entirely worth it!!

The next morning we got up at 3 am in order to hike up to Machu Picchu. We made it in about 1.5 hours and got there before it opened. We had a guided tour for the first 2 hours, then were on our own to climb WaynaPicchu (another mountain beside Machu Picchu)! Also, definitely worth it!