Coming to Bolivia, I never imagined that I would end up traveling in Peru. It was an easy decision for me when some of the other interns proposed that we head to Peru and check out Machu Picchu. After all, who knows when I’ll come back to South America next? As soon as we had decided to go to Peru, we started searching for the cheapest way there. Eventually, we settled with using a travel agent in La Paz called Enjoy Bolivia.
We left La Paz early Thursday morning (on 7/15) by bus. To be honest, I wasn’t that thrilled with busing it all the way to Peru but as broke college and medical students, it was the cheapest option for us. At the beginning of the bus ride, everything was running smoothly minus the traffic jam in El Alto. Once we reached the Peru- Bolivia border, we had to get off the bus and pass through immigration. We had to get our exit papers from Bolivia and then fill out our entrance forms for Peru. Furthermore, I found it quite funny that the only thing separating the borders was a rope that a police officer held and would let go of when a bus or car needed to pass through. Overall, the transition across the border was simple and easy but the lines were long.
Once we crossed the border that’s when the bus began to have problems. About five minutes after leaving the border, the bus driver made a stop at a mechanic shop. As we waited for the bus to be fixed, all the passengers (including myself) became very agitated because the bus driver didn’t even give us an update on what was going on. All we inferred was that something was wrong with the bus because we were parked outside of a mechanic shop. We stayed at the mechanics shop for about 40 minutes.
A few minutes after the bus left the mechanic shop, motion sickness hit me. Throughout the trip, I had been in and out of sleep. But, with the onset of my motion sickness, I really tried to sleep in order to ease the nauseous feeling I had. However, I found it extremely difficult to sleep because 1) there were a lot of turns and curves and 2) the couple sitting across from Julia (one of the interns) and I kept kissing which was very distracting. Eventually, after spending 11.5 hrs on the bus I vomited. Luckily, I had a plastic garbage bag.
We eventually arrived in Cusco at night. In total, the supposed to be 8-10 hour bus ride really took 12 hours. A driver provided to us by our travel agent picked us up at the bus terminal. The driver drove us to our hotel. Driving through Cusco at night, the lights illuminated the city’s wonderful architecture and made it gorgeous. After settling in to our very comfortable hotel (which I found to be very nice), we headed out to dinner and walked a little through the city to take pictures of the city at night.
The next morning, we were up very early because we had to catch a train that took us to a town called Aguas Caliente where we would spent the day. Riding Peru Rails was quite fun. We were able to see amazing landscapes that blew my breath away. Overall, the train ride was very comfortable and relaxing.
When we arrived in Aguas Caliente, we had trouble finding our hotel. Eventually, we paid someone to show us our hotel. The hotel in Aguas Caliente wasn’t as nice as the hotel in Cusco.
After settling into our hotel, we were in search of food. One thing about Aguas Caliente is that employees of almost every restaurant bombarded us. The employees stood outside of every restaurant and offered all by-passers a menu and a deal just to eat at their restaurant. I was a little overwhelmed by the choices although most of the restaurants had the title “pizzeria” in their name.
As we were in search of a restaurant, I heard the sounds of drums. At first, I thought that this was a little awkward since I didn’t see anyone playing the drums. Within minutes of hearing the drums, I saw a bunch of Peruvians in elaborate outfits and traditional wear dancing and walking down the street. I was still confused on why a parade was occurring. Eventually, I saw a banner that said “Virgin del Carmen.” The people were celebrating the Virgin Carmen.
After watching the parade, we headed to a restaurant and finally ate. Following the restaurant, we went to the hot springs. When I first saw the hot springs, I was like “yuck” because 1) the water looked dirty and 2) there were many people. I finally convinced myself to get into the hot spring b/c I didn’t want my 10 Soles (the name of the Peruvian currency) to go to waste. We spent a little over an hour at the hot springs. The hot springs were so relaxing, and I highly recommend that if you visit Peru that you stop in Aguas Caliente and enjoy the hot springs.
The next day we were up by about 2:30 am. The reason being is that we had to catch a bus to Machu Picchu and we wanted to be the first in line because every day only 400 tickets are given out to people so that they can hike Waynapicchu. We were one of the first groups in line at the bus station. Unfortunately, we had to wait in the cold and rain until 6 am for the bus to leave to Machu Picchu. Thankfully, the bus ride was not long and it lasted only 20 minutes.
Once we got to Machu Picchu, we had to wait another 20 minutes or so for the gates to open so we could enter. When the gates opened, we saw our guide. As I took my first steps into Machu Picchu, I was a little overwhelmed because I had only read about this great Incan Empire in books and never thought that I would one day set my eyes upon it first hand. I’ll never forget what I first saw, and I don’t think that I can accurately describe what I saw b/c it was just too beautiful. When I first entered, there were low-lying clouds that hid some of the stone buildings and in the backdrop also slightly hidden by the clouds was Waynapicchu. Although the clouds hid a good portion of the structure, the clouds also made the place mystical.
Our guide walked us all throughout the structures. I was extremely happy that we had a guide because every rock is strategically placed and has a significant meaning. Our guide was able to explain the rocks to us. For example, there are rocks that form the condor. The condor is significant because it represents the flying of the Incans to heaven. In addition, a rock had engraved in it the Southern Cross. This rock oriented the Incans to the stars that made up the Southern Cross thus providing them one way to tell the seasons. I highly recommend that if anyone is planning to go to Machu Picchu that they hire a guide, its well worth it and you’ll have a better understanding of the Incans.
After our guide had showed us the structures that the Incans had built, we hiked Waynapicchu (which means small mountain). Let me tell you, hiking Waynapicchu was extremely difficult for me and what made it even more difficult was that I was carrying my heavy backpack. The mountain was so steep and the paths were very narrow. On multiple occasions, I wanted to turn back around and just forget the hike. However, a part of me knew I could complete the hike. Eventually, I made it to top! In all, my recommendations for those wanting to hike Waynapicchu are only carry water or else you’ll be in more pain. Also, wear comfortable hiking clothes. Overall, it took me 3 hrs to hike up and down Waynapicchu. Currently, the world record is 25 minutes (I seriously don’t know how someone can do that)!!!!
Upon leaving Machu Picchu, we had lunch at a nice buffet in Aguas Caliente. From Aguas Caliente, we headed back to Cusco to spend the night. The next day, we just walked and shopped around Cusco. Also, in Cusco we visited Qorikancha Convento De Santo Domingo. Following Qorikancha, the other students went to check out one of the churches that we had seen earlier. I personally didn’t go look at the church b/c I feel that it is wrong for a church to charge money for people to view inside it, and plus I’ve been inside multiple churches in La Paz. While the other students checked out inside the church, I sat on a bench in the plaza where an elderly Peruvian man was sitting. The next thing I know is that the man is talking to me in Spanish. We actually had a great conversation and I liked it because it was a way for me to practice more of my Spanish. He told me a lot about Peru and then we discussed corruption + oil/petroleum in Nigeria.
We eventually left Peru on Monday morning and headed back to La Paz. The trip back to La Paz was even more hectic than on our way to Peru but I won’t go into the details of that because it is extremely long. Overall, I highly recommend that if anyone comes to South America that you visit Machu Picchu and Cusco. Both places are definitely tourist central so be prepared for high prices.
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