Words cannot describe how amazing Machu Picchu was. I’ll let my pictures speak for themselves.
The Inca Bridge
Human Sacrifice
Steve sitting on the royal throne at the house believed to have belonged to the Inca emperor Pachacuti
On July 5, we left Lima to travel to Cusco. As soon as we got to our hotel, they had us sit in the reception area and drink coca tea to help ward off altitude sickness. We then decided to walk around town for a while, before our city tour. Cusco was absolutely beautiful. It’s how I actually thought Lima would be. After a nice leisurely stroll around town, we headed back to the hotel for our city tour. The city tour was fantastic. We learned a little bit about the history of Cusco and the Incas, drove all around Cusco and explored the ruins. We then had a nice light dinner at the hotel and off to bed. Our 4am wake-up call was going to be EARLY, but who cares, when you’re off to Machu Pichuu!
Hanging out at the hotel drinking coca tea
Mom interacting with a Peruvian mime
Pics of Cusco
The Inca Fountain of Youth
First of and foremost, I would like to wish my mom a happy birthday again. Her birthday was July 4, and we celebrated by flying over the Nazca lines. We got up early in the morning, went to the airport, flew to Ica which is a small town north of Lima. We saw a brief show about the Nazca lines, and then we boarded a TINY 8 person plane and started the 2 hour flight. It was amazing, flying over the desert and seeing the lines we saw..
a martian
a monkey
a dog
a spider
a condor
a hummingbird
a pair of hands
a tree
Misc pics
After the flight, we went to this great resort for lunch and live music.
After lunch, we went to an oasis. For me, this was probably my favorite part of the trip that I hadn’t planned on. I mean, Machu Pichuu was amazing, but I knew I was going there. The oasis was just part of our tour, and it was exactly how I have always imagined an oasis. Sand in every direction, hot blistering sun, and then palm trees, birds and water. While my parents walked around and enjoyed the oasis, Steve and I decided to go on a dune buggy ride. It was exhilarating, though we are still finding sand in our shoes! We went on an hour dune buggy ride and then went sand boarding. I’m not much of a snow boarder, and I didn’t want to injure myself before the trip was over, Steve and I decided to use the board more as a sled. It was so much fun, and the desert… What can I say, it was spectacular. I know I live in desert climate, but this was the first time that I have ever really been to the desert. The type that I saw in Lawrence of Arabia.
After a long and exhausting day, we flew back to Lima and had a nice birthday meal and cake at the hotel.
Come back and see what happens on day 3!!
My parents left last week, after a terrific visit. One of the highlights of their visit was our trip to Peru. I know that you have been eagerly awaiting an update, and i’m sorry it’s taken so long. I’ve decided to slowly post pictures from our trip, a day each day. We arrived in Lima at about midnight, and we’re picked up and whisked off to our hotel. We stayed at the Melia Lima hotel- which is now one of our favorite hotel chains. Steve and I stayed in a Melia Hotel in Portugal as well, and they were both amazing hotels. The next morning, we got up had an awesome breakfast- in Chile, they haven’t started the whole breakfast thing yet, so usually you only get bread and jam and some ham and cheese. This buffet was basically an american type buffet but better. Anyways, after breakfast, we went off shopping to the vendor district. There was everything imaginable there, and cheap. I was a little disheartened to find out that all the goodies i’ve been buying at La Recova heree in town, is actually, mostly all Peruvian items sold at about 3 times the cost. Needless to say, we were able to find everything we wanted and more. After shopping we came back to out hotel and waited for our city tour of Lima. OVerall Lima isn’t that impressive. I actually like Santiago better, though 1 thing Lima has going for it is that it is on the ocean. After the tour, we went out to dinner to a chifa restaurant- which is a chinese/peruvian fusion restaurant, and had a scrumptious meal. Unlike Santiago and Chile, Peru seemed to have a lot more international foods, and they used a lot more spices in the food.
