05/03/2023 to 06/03/2023 - Machu Picchu / Peru

We flew from Lima to Cusco in the late afternoon of March 4th and checked into Natys Guesthouse in the middle of the city. Naty and her husband are very warm and helpful hosts. In the evening, we slowly walked through the illuminated Cusco and had a real stone oven pizza. Cusco is located at an altitude of 3,400 meters. The air has less oxygen at this altitude, so everything we did took a little longer.

The next morning, we packed two small backpacks and left our remaining luggage at the accommodation. A taxi took us from Cusco to Ollantaytambo. There we boarded a Perurail train and rocked through the different vegetation zones for 1.5 hours until we reached Machu Picchu. We were now only at an altitude of 2,000 meters and in the wetter cloud forest, which is much more comfortable for our well-being. We discovered the small town of Aguas Calientes at the foot of Machu Picchu. We got some information for the next day, arranged to meet a guide, and went to sleep because tomorrow it's early morning.

The alarm clock rang at 5:50 a.m., breakfast was served at 6:15 a.m., and shortly before 7:00 a.m. we boarded the bus to Machu Picchu. You can walk the path, but it takes at least two hours. We were glad that we took the bus, which took us 400 meters higher in 25 minutes along switchbacks. At the entrance of the old city, we used the last opportunity for a restroom, because there is none on the entire site. We showed our passports and tickets, and then the Inca adventure began. Machu Picchu is a terraced and well-preserved ruined city, and also the best-known Inca city of all. The Inca people built the city in the 15th century between the peaks of Huayna Picchu and Machu Picchu above the Urubamba Valley at an altitude of 2,430 meters. Since we were so early, we were almost the first visitors and had the site almost to ourselves. We spent about 3 hours on the entire grounds. Our guide Lourdes told us a lot about the life of the Incas, the old city, and the construction. It is incomprehensible how people in the past built this city. The mountains were climbed on narrow paths at dizzying heights, the tons of stones were placed accurately on top of each other without any glue being used, the houses and windows were perfectly aligned with the sun and moon, and productive terraces were built for cultivation. Machu Picchu has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1983 and in 2007, the old city was chosen as one of the new 7 Wonders of the World. Deeply impressed, we took the bus back down around noon. It started to rain. We were lucky with the weather. In the late afternoon, we took the train back to Ollantaytambo. The landscape with yellow blooming gorse, large cacti with red figs, gigantic agaves, and the riverbank with a few houses and animals passed by.