The Sacred Valley and Machupicchu

Here´s some pictures of travelling to Machupicchu and the Sacred Valley. The entire ride to Ollamtaytumbo was through the mountains with snow capped mountains in the distance. Here´s a picture from the bus.


View of Ollantaytambo, a village near the entrance to Macchupicchu.


Picture of some old fashioned countryside cactus graffiti.


It's amazing to think that Incan plumbing has lasted 100s of years, Spanish conquest, and multiple earthquakes. Too bad, the Incan's never wrote anything down. They certainly could have taught the Southie plumbers a thing or too.


Here's the view in Chinchero and Jackie making friends with the locals while trying some Chi Cha. Its an alcohol stronger than beer that is made from corn. The farmers make it and then post a red flag outside of their house or bar, which means friends are welcome to stop in and try the homebrew. This batch was brewed in a trash barrel - amazingly neither Jackie or I got sick from it.



The trip to Machupicchu is by train. To Jackie´s disappointment the 4 Day Inca Trail hike is filled through August. Here´s a picture with 1 minute left to boarding. We were told that we had purchased the last 2 tickets.



Apparently, they weren´t lying. This picture was taken not 30 seconds later.


Here´s some pictures from Machupicchu at 6;30 am. We climbed the peak in the background later in the day.





From the top of the peak. . .


Here´s Jackie exhausted after the hike.


And here´s a picture of the windy bus ride up to Machupicchu.