Sunday, March 31, 2013

CUZCO!! Con mis amiguitos ;)

I know I just wrote a book for my last blog but its not my fault! We have been going on so many adventures lately and I have to explain them all :) Our last class trip in South America was CUZCO. We finally got the chance to go, and save the best for last I guess. The first thing I will say to sum it all up instead of writing a huge paragraph about it is : NOTE TO SELF...AND TO ANY OTHER SANE PERSON.....do not, ever, take Peruvian Airlines. If you need a list to as of why not: They have broken pilot windows, they loose stairs, you take uncomfortable combis around, they are always an 1 or more behind schedule, you do not get to have a perfect flight, and nothing will ever go right :) Anyway, after a little confusion at the airport, weird, we got to CUZCO! It was by far one of the most beautiful places that I have ever been too. It reminded me a lot of Arequipa flying in because you could see the mountain tops peaking out of the clouds and then when we went under the clouds it was miles and miles of green and yellow mountains. Our tour guide was there to pick us up and we were brought to the hotel. You could tell how high we were in altitude because we all felt how hard it was to breath and how quickly we lost our breath. Once we arrived at our hotel we were sat down and given COCA tea--it did wonders. It helped a lot with the

wonders. It helped a lot with the altitude and with the fact that our room was on the 4th floor (no elevators). Once we got situated we had time to take a nap since we had been up since 3-am, and after we went down to have our first tour. Before our tour we were advised to eat very light and so we had chicken noodle soup, HOMEMADE, and it was delicious. Then for the tour we had with us our tour guide named Marco. He was the best and very funny. He took us to many famous Chapels around Cuzco, Sexy Woman, and many more! We had the coolest little headsets so that we could hear him and take our time taking pictures and looking at all of the interesting sites. I learned so much history about the places we visited, see a lot of llamas, got to walk through small pitch black caves, climb a lot of rocks and see amazing places. After our last tour we got little cups of Coca tea mixed with another ingredient to help us with the altitude. When we returned to our hotel it was dinner time! We went to a famous Jacks Cafe that is known by all American toursits I guess, and we found out why. The food was to die for, so good that I got the same thing twice because we ended up going Firday as well. I ordered Tostada Francesa :) -french toast. With it came a little cup of syrup, and sliced bananas and strawberries. When we finished we stopped at a little store to buy snacks and water for our big adventure to MACHU PICCU :) Ofcourse we ended up getting a little lost and it took us around 30min to walk home, which was alright. We went to bed and were up and ready again the next day at 7am. It was a very long journey to get to the 7th wonder of the world and now that I look at it, it really is in a hidden place. We took one bus, to go to another bus. When we got to our second bus it was around 1-45min ride. Then after that bus we got transferred to another form of transportation which was our beautiful train. The train ride was around 2 hours and it had snacks and beautiful scenery to look at. When we were closer it was starting to look like we were going into the jungle! Later we found out that at Machu Piccu it was the begining of the selva. Finally after our train ride was our last form of transport, another bus, and it winded us all the way to the top until we arrived. When we arrived we started climbing our way to the top. When we got our first view point of M.P. it was everything I had expected and more. I couldn't grasp my mind around how old this place was and how incredible it was that it was never found in time to be destroyed. Our tour guide gave us loads of interesting information about M.P. when we started walking around the grounds. Mostly about how the Spaniards didn't find this place and how lucky it was because it was not destroyed, how extremely smart the Incas were with how they built this structure, their sun temple, rocks shaped like their symbolic animals (my fav. the condor drinking area) and much more! We all took loads of pictures and me especially=see face-book. I was so happy to say that I have now seen a 7 wonder and it was all worth the time of getting there in the end. When we were done touring the grounds and hearing all of the fun facts about M.P. we had to hurry and take lunch at buffet restaurant. They had great desserts I recall because I decided to eat mounds of brownies and cheesecake instead of all the other foods. All in all it was a great trip and when we finished eating we took our bus to  train to bus to bus journey back to our hotel in Cusco. Since we did not really get a chance to shop when we arrived back at the hotel at 9:00 pm some of us ventured out to go and shop for a couple of things before we called it a night. Sleeping and waking up the next morning for our Saturday adventure was a little rough. We did it though and had breakfast and took off for the Sacred Valley. We stopped at the Sacred Valley and had a chance to take pictures of the valley and then on to our next spot. We stopped at a sort of animal refuge and also got to look at many things made from 100% real Alpaca fur! It was amazing because here we also got to see Storks, have HUGE condors fly over us, see Pumas, and many other interesting animals. My favorite part here was when we got to have the condors fly over us and then take pictures with them. We had to stand a certain feet away from them para take a picture with them which kind of freaked me out after seeing their beaks and their claws. I did it though! After that we went to have lunch before going to our last site. We had a buffet at this beautiful place that I swear was just placed on top of a garden. It was next to the Amazon river and had a flute band playing outside for entertainment, a little shop to look at, and llamas and more in the yard. It was my favorite restaurant in Cuzco I think only because it was so pretty. We ate a lot of really good food and I tried a lot of different things. I had sushi, carrots and beats put together (very weird), different meats, salads, eggs, and much more! For desserts I once again tried them all! There was really good chocolate cake and a good lemon pie also! When we finished we went to look at the shops and Sam went to go and get chased by a llama. :). After we got back on the bus and headed to our final site! Before walking up to the site we got to see a jewelry making store and to shop around a little before. 
When we arrived to the site it looked like it had MILLIONS of steps, which I knew we would probably hike up so I was mentally preparing. We got out and she had us sit down while she explained the area and the history of it. She showed us how their were faces in the mountains across from the site and a kings face as well that you could still make out. We climbed the steps and had to take many rest breaks because of the altitude. At one point our guide had us hum into a a carved out opening in the rocks and when we did it was a loud vibration that we heard! Really cool! It was also neat when we finally reached the top of the mountain! After the top we had some free time to do walk around other paths and to shop around. We were all tired and on the bus ride home with all of our suvenirs and the bumpy rodes we took it was impossible to nap! It started rainging on the way home which was a nice noise to listen to in the end! Later that night a couple us went back to eat at JACKS and then went out to get a feel for Cuzco. The next day we proceeded to shop and I bought a lot of things in Cuzco....oops! It was a lovely trip though and I was so happy that I got to finally go there and see Machu Picchu :) It was by far one of my favorite trips so far!! Write more later Chao Chao!





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