What we came here for: Machu Picchu

We took a train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu town). We had planned to take money out from an ATM in AC but when we got there we found out the ATM was out of service. We then learned that was the only ATM in all of Aguas Calientes. Panick started to settle in. We didn't have enough money to buy a 2 way bus ticket to Machu Picchu, pay for a private guide and pay for our lunch boxes at the hotel. We might have to come down Machu Picchu walking.. Thankfully we had purchased our Machu Picchu entrance in Cusco. We woke up the following morning at 4:20 am, had breakfast at the hotel (Gringo Bill's) and headed to the bus stop. Luckily the ATM was already working by then and we were able to purchase the 2 way tickets and had enough money for our guide, whew. There was a long line already, I would say around 200 people in front of us but they were ready, they had enough buses for an army. The drive to Machu Picchu revealed we were in the middle of the jungle, just beautiful scenary. We got in and immediately walked towards the left because we had learned that was the trick to get the classic MP shot without any tourist in the picture. That was quite a hike but we were so excited we didn't stop to rest. And finally it was there, exactly as I had pictured it, the breath taking ruins surrounded by jungle, what a sight! We asked a guy from Spain to take our group picture and when we offered to take his he told us his camera had been stolen. We just couldn't let that poor guy visit MP and not have proof in picture he was there. We offered to send his picture by email. After that we went to the entrance to get a private guide that spoke English for Hunter. We had a very interesting guided tour that lasted for 2.5 hours but when we got to the entrance to Wayna Picchu the daily limit of 400 people had already been reached. We then decided to walk all the way to the Sun Gate (Puerta del Sol) which was the entrance used by the Incas (the inca trail trekkers enter thru here too). Who came up with that idea?! We didn't think it would be so much walking! It took us about an hour to reach the top. The scenary was very nice from there but we're not sure it was worth the work. In summary we had a wonderful time at the ruins, we spent almost 8 hrs there and some of us even took a nap! Machu Picchu totally lived up to our expectations!

2nd Stop: Cusco

We had stopped in Cusco on our way to Puno from Lima and let me tell you, this flight is considered one of the most dangerous in Peru and it certainly was a bit nerve racking since the plane has to go between high "cerros" (mountains) and it has very little room for mistakes. But the flight from Puno to Cusco thankfully wasn't as bad. Puno is a city full of tourists. It was the capital of the inca empire but the conquistadors pretty much demolished all their sites and built churches on top of them. There are like 20 sthg churches in Cusco alone.
Everyone that goes to Machu Picchu stops here first. We took a day tour to visit the temple of Qoricancha, very important for the Incas, as well as some ruins in the outskirt of Cusco like: Sacsaywaman. The tour was very interesting and we learned a lot about the Inca culture like put 100% of you in everything you do, they worship the Pumas and they were great engineers. We came back to Cusco after our trips to the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu. We walked some more around the city, visited a local market where we found all kinds of weird stuff like cattle faces and meats hanging. We also had lunch at a Cuban restaurant: La bodeguita del Medio. Not quite like the actual Bodeguita del Medio or even the one we found in Prague, but we got to write some anti communist messages in the wall since they had pictures of Fidel and Che. One of the nights we went to dinner and Hunter decided to order a very typical peruvian plate: Cuy, which means Guinea Pig (o curiel en espanol). They cook it in the oven and bring it to you with the entire body (see pic) you can later tell them to chop off the head and cut it up for you to make it easier to eat. I tried a bite of the meat and found it very tender but the spices they used to cook it a bit salty. On another ocassion we also tried Alpaca. It was OK, with an after taste a bit similar to higado (liver). Also something I wanted to mention about Cusco (& other turisty areas) is full of people selling you stuff! I don't know how many times we had to say "No Gracias". You had children & women with lamas or alpacas dressed in traditional customs offering to take their picture for 1 sol. 1 peruvian sol was about US $3.
The last day in Cusco there was a strike and even though our flight was at 11 AM we had to leave at 7:30 am or we had to walk to the airport since all traffic stops. As we rode to the airport the driver had to be communicating via a walkie talkie so they tell them what street to take and which ones to avoid since the strikers were blocking streets. The girls were kinda scared that our taxi was going to get attacked or a stone thrown at us. Thankfully we all got to the airport in one piece..

Our first stop: Puno

Our first stop was south in the city of Puno, where the famous Lake Titicaca is. When we first arrived to the airport in Juliaca our first impression was that we had gotten on the wrong plane and landed in Afghanistan. The city is probably one of the ugliest city in the world (as said by the guy sitting next to me in the airplane). There's dust everywhere, all the houses look unfinished and they all have the same brownish color. It was about 45 min. to get to Puno. Puno was also not an enchanting city and it hit us how cold it was. The first thing we did when we got to our hotel The Qelqatani (which was OK) was drink Coca Tea and sit by the heater in the lobby. They use Coca in teas, candy, or you can chew it in your mouth to help with altitude sickness. Even coca wasn't enough to help us with our headache and Hunter even had to stay the next day in our trip to the lake because he had been vomiting all night. The 5 of us joined a boat tour to visit the floating islands of Uros. These islands are man made with floating reeds (or what they call Totora) that grows right there in the lake. The islands, the houses, the food, everything is made from Totora. The people that live in those islands (about 42 islands) are called Uros and as you can see they're skin is a different color, kinda reddish because of the high altitudes the sun is stronger but also because the totora contains a lot of iodine. One funny episode, the president of the island we were visiting showed his humble house to Raul and asked if he wanted to take a picture of him in his house. Raul, being the guy that he is, responded that No! Si tu eres muy feo! (You're too ugly!) hahaha at the end he did end up taking his picture. We later took a ride in one of the totora boats while the women said bye to us singing songs like: Vamos a la playa, oh oh oh, and they finished by saying: Hasta la vista Babies! They taught the little girls to sing in spanish, english, and even japanese!