The Rival

Chile and Peru and big-time rivals. There is definitely some bad blood there…see the War of the Pacific 1888, where Chile basically took a bunch of Peru and Bolivia’s territory to make their country longer than it already is… ok Chile. The Chileans and Peruvians are both convinced that their shared national liquor, pisco, originates from their respective countries and you will never convince either of it otherwise. You get it, they’re rivals.

I had heard amazing things about Peru, so naturally it was on my South America travel list. Kelsey and I luckily found direct flights from Santiago to Cusco all the way back in September, so we bought them! Little did we know all of the things that were going to happen between that day on campus and when we were slated to leave on November 29^th. By the time the 29^th did arrive, it felt so fast and yet so slow at the same time. Had the last two months of turmoil REALLY happened? Either way, we were on a plane bound for Peru with an itinerary stacked to the brim with Inca ruins and hiking (yes, including the must-see Machu Picchu). We arrived in Cusco and checked into our hostel, an adorable place with a courtyard and a great vibe in general. We walked to our dinner reservation in the main Plaza de Armas and when we got there, we were greeted by the most amazing view of the sun setting over the hills surrounding the city. We then had a delicious dinner of Japanese-Peruvian fusion food and headed back to the hostel to rest up before our first day of exploring.

The first day was a half day exploring ruins (on ATVs!!) and the rest wandering around Cusco. We were picked up at our hostel by our tour at 7am, took a lesson on how to work the ATVs and we were off. First, we visited the Maras Salt Flats, which is a site run by the people of the village of Maras. Each family has 3-5 salt pools, which they curate all year. These salt flats export internationally too, which is crazy! Next we took the ATVs to Moray, an Incan ruins site. This site was particularly incredible because we learned that the terraces were each different micro-climates! This means that the Incas could grow different plants from different climates (think rainforest, ocean, etc.) all in the mountains! Pretty awesome if I do say so myself. After the tour was over, we went to this yummy vegan restaurant and wandered around the cute neighborhood of San Blas, where every turn has adorable houses and incredible vistas of Cusco. We had an early dinner and then headed home to pack before the next day: we were headed to Machu Picchu!

There are lots of ways to get to Machu Picchu. Like honestly, over 5 different ones. The most basic is just taking the PeruRail train to Aguas Calientes (the town at the base of Machu Pichu) there and back. There are several treks you can do (the Inca Trail, the Salkantay Mountain Trek, the Jungle Trek, etc.) and finally, there is a bus you can take. The bus takes you up and over the Peruvian landscape (for 7 hours!) and leaves you in Hidroelectrica, which is a town 12km outside of Aguas Calientes. The thing about Aguas Calientes is that there is no road to get there, so you cannot drive there and the only way to get there is either walking or by train. We decided to take the bus there, walk the 12k, stay in Aguas Calientes for a night and then take the train back the next day after the ruins. I can now confirm that this is my personal favorite way (if you don’t have weeks to do one of the treks). It was amazing to get to see so much of the landscape on the bus ride and the walk to Aguas Calientes was really enjoyable. Let’s just say our dinner that night was well-deserved!

**This is going to be a bit of a “Machu Picchu Guide” for a paragraph or so, so if that doesn’t interest you then you should skip ahead**

The day finally arrived: we were going to Machu Picchu! Ever since the new UNESCO regulations in January of 2019, everyone going to Machu Picchu has to buy a certain entrance time to regulate the flow of people visiting the ruins per day. There are over 2,500 people that visit every day! When you buy the entrance ticket, you can buy a ticket to just see the ruins, to climb Machu Picchu Mountain or Wayna Picchu Mountain. Machu Picchu Mountain is the more “classic” view of Machu Picchu over the ruins BUT Wayna Picchu is described as the Mountain of Death, so we just HAD to see what that was about and climb it. Along with the entrance time for the ruins, you get an entrance time for either of the mountains. For Wayna Picchu, the entrance time is between 7-8am so you pretty much have to go to the mountain right away. After you climb the mountain, you come back down and are required to go out of the site and re-enter to see the rest of the ruins. Don’t worry, when you show them your Wayna Picchu ticket they will understand as people do it every day! You can then walk along the ruins with everyone else and be just as amazed since you also got to see it from the top of the huge mountain in the background of all the pictures! Pretty incredible.

**Okay back to my own experience. Hiking Wayna Picchu was one of the coolest things I have ever done. We started the hike and it was pretty foggy and there was mist everywhere. Because of this, the stairs (just rocks that the Incas carved out of the mountain if we are being honest) were so slippery and wet! I really expected it to be just a hike to a lookout point at the top, but there was a ton of Inca construction up there! I was so surprised! It was basically an addition to the ruins below us, but with an even more incredible view! We got down at around 10am (absolutely drenched in sweat) and went to explore the ruins for another hour or so. It is such an amazing place. I cannot say this enough. I was a bit worried that it was going to be overhyped because it is so famous, but it is 10000% worth it to go. I could go back again and again.

We got down from Machu Picchu at around 12 and headed RIGHT to a restaurant to eat after our very eventful morning. We ended up finding this adorable Italian place where we ate pizzas, had pisco sours and just sat for a couple hours before we had to go catch our train. The train takes about 3 hours, and I spent them staring out the window (yet again) because the views of Peru are just that beautiful. We got back to Cusco, had a quick dinner and then went to bed early, as we had yet another day of exploring ahead of us. No, we did not rest basically at all during this trip… and yes, I am feeling it now, but it was so worth it!

The last day in Peru was another adventure to Lago Humantay. We woke up at 3:30, our tour picked us up at 4, and we were driven two hours to a place where we were given a hearty breakfast and then continued on to the trailhead. There was the option to ride horses up the trail to the lake so of course we took them up on that offer! It was a surreal experience to ride the horses up to the lake, with sweeping views of the valley between mountains behind us. The lake was a beautiful blue color and we hung out there with our tour group for a bit before hiking back down the mountain. We had lunch after the hike and were dropped back in Cusco. Right after we got back to Cusco, a HUGE thunderstorm started (it is the rainy season in Peru) and the rain was so heavy that we put off going to dinner until after we packed. After a last dinner, we went to bed and then got on our flight the next day back to Santiago!