Machu Picchu

Hey babes! I am finally home after a long two days of travel. The past month has been full of adventures & I'm happy to cross another continent off my list! 

Machu Picchu was incredible. The view is breathtaking & the hike will get your calves burning! This part of the trip started out in Cusco where we took a flight in and spent the night perusing the market with handmade gifts & alpaca blankets. We had dinner at a cute restaurant called Limbus, which had an amazing view of Cusco at night, then headed back to the hotel to rest up for our Machu Picchu adventure. We woke up the next morning & met our tour guide who took us on a bus to Pisac, where we hiked the ruins. Next we drove to Ollantaytambo where we viewed and hiked some more Incan ruins. After that, our guide dropped us off at the train station where we boarded for an incredible journey through the mountains to Aguas Calientes. The next day, we woke up at 6:30 to head up the mountain to Machu Picchu. We got really lucky and had awesome weather. It's the rainy season, but it only sprinkled toward the end. We walked around the main part with our tour guide and learned about the history of Machu Picchu, then hiked the Sun Gate, which took about an hour and a half, and had an awesome view of Machu Picchu below us. Afterwards some of us decided to walk down the path to the hotel instead of taking the bus, which at the time sounded like a good idea, but my calves disagreed the next day haha. It was so peaceful though, and crazy to think how the Incans carried these giant rocks over these huge mountains so long ago. 

If anyone has the chance to go to Peru & hike Machu Picchu, I highly recommend it. You really only need a day to hike around, otherwise I would spend some more time in Cusco. Also, if you have to pick between Lima and Cusco, I would definitely choose Cusco. There were more shops & restaurants and things to do there in my opinion, I wish we had more time there! And if you do go, wait to buy your "souvenirs" in Machu Picchu. There is a giant market by the train station that sells real alpaca sweaters, blankets, etc. they sell them in Cusco too, but I don't think it is the real thing.

Thanks for following my travels! Read about my other experiences in Peru here.