After twenty two hours of travel time consisting of three flights, one cab ride, and two bus rides I had finally reached my destination. I was at one of the seven wonders of the world, Machu Picchu. I was in the presence of something phenomenal and the experience of culture and history truly did not disappoint.
Let me back up a bit. I had been itching for an international trip, something a little less city girl and a little more spiritual and adventurous. Another requirement, was it had to be someplace I had never been. A few other things I considered before booking this trip was price, weather and time of year (AKA vacation days). Peru seemed to fit the bill. We (a girlfriend & I) were extremely lucky with all three. Prices for flights were unreal, under $550 round trip. Note this is flying out of Tijuana Mexico. The weather was nearly perfect, as they are in their dry season this time of year. We had a lot of sunny days and manageable lower temperatures. Lastly, in the US we had a little holiday, Fourth of July, which gave me a free day off work which meant less days of PTO needed. Score!
The next thing I feel is important to share with you is we booked all activities and tours via a travel company, this was a separate cost from our flights. Which in hindsight was probably the best decision we made. The travel company did all the legwork and made our trip stress free. It was both cost and time efficient. I was skeptical on what company to use and the quality of hospitality that would come along with a third world country. However, I was pleasantly surprised by how punctual, and organized the tour was. We had 7 days jam packed with adventure, food, hiking, sightseeing, city tours and museums. I’d highly recommend booking via Trip Me for your next vacation.
Now let me break my trip down for you by day.
Day 1 – Travel day. Depart from Tijuana Airport, layover in Mexico City, with a second layover in Lima. We had to travel to Cusco, Peru on day 1 as our tour started here on day 2. Turns out Cusco was the central location for most of our trip. After 18 hours of travel
Day 2 – We had plenty of time to sleep in as we didn’t begin our walking tour until mid-day. We took our time, got an Uber to our hotel Yawar Inka, checked in, left our luggage and immediately set out for food! We found the cutest bakery La Valeriana where we had ALL the empanadas. Well not all of them but four between the two of us. Delicious! We later met up with our tour group and went on a city tour of Cusco. We visited the first Christian Cathedral in South America, the city square where I got to hold a baby llama, and the Sagrado Garden which had the most stunning city views! Next stop, Sacsayhuaman which is an important archaeological site that seriously blew my mind. This was a fortress, with stone walls creating barracks. The size of the stones were huge and weighed tons. How did they get them here? How? Seriously? Ha. The Incas were very spiritual people and used this area to worship the God Sun or Inti. Last stop for the day was Tambomachay, each place we visited intrigued me more and more. This location was known for its canals and waterfalls. It was one of 14 locations that lies next to a river (along the Inca Trail) which showcases their hydraulic engineering and pays homage to water.
Day 3 – We started our day early and set out to visit some stops along the Sacred Valley of The Incas making our way to Aguas Calientes. I’ve always been interested in Agriculture, coming from a small farming town, so our visit to Pisac was one of my favorite stops. The easiest way to describe it is an agricultural terrace which essentially made a natural greenhouse (ok, seriously someone
From Pisac making our way to Aguas Calientes via van, we stopped in a small village Urubama to have lunch outside with mountain views all around. It was another hour drive from Urubama to Ollantaytambo. Here we witnessed locals flood the streets standing outside local businesses playing the World Cup, Peru v. Chilie. Most of the TVs were 25″ or smaller and had static running through them, but the locals didn’t care. They were chanting and filled with joy watching their country win; it was pretty epic to experience. After all the commotion we had enough time to grab some dinner and connect to Wi-Fi while waiting to board our 1.5 hour train to Aguas Calientes. This was a long travel day, but the stops made perfect sense and it didn’t feel overwhelming. We arrived at about 9pm to our hotel and rested for the night.
Day 4 – I jumped out of bed. I was the most excited for our visit to Machu Picchu. It was the something I had been looking forward to since we booked our trip. We got dressed, rushed down to breakfast and then made our trek to the bus line. Hundreds of people standing in line at 7am waiting to board a bus to travel 25 mins up to the entrance. It was like clockwork. By 8am we arrived and found our tour guide for the day. We meet our group mixed with other travelers in the same age group traveling from all over the world. I enjoy the tour guides, they give you a brief history along with some fun facts about the place you’re visiting. They are sure to give you time to take pictures and point out optimal IG locations. Today was no different.
We left our tour group early so we could hike Machu Picchu Mountain. You have to get a separate ticket to hike up and only about 4-5% of daily visitors make the trek. We climbed 2,139 ft and ended at 10,111 ft
We were exhausted! It was a hot day and I don’t think either of us
After that intense hike we waited in line to catch the bus back to town. Here we grabbed some dinner and some well deserved ice cream. We had time to walk through the market which so happens to be next to the train station. We boarded our train making our way back to Ollantaytambo. Here we had a driver waiting for us to drive us back to our original hotel, Yawar Inka in Cusco. After a long day, we finally arrive about 8pm.
Linking all of my travel outfit details below:
Leggings here
Basic Tees here
Sneakers here
Luggage here
Jumpsuit here
Sunnies here
Jeggings here
Puffer Jacket here
Crop Jacket here
Hiking Shoes here
Happy Traveling & Shopping!
XOXO,
Marissa
