After a 20 minute bus ride to a 2 hour bus ride to a one hour train ride to another 20 minute bus ride we finally arrived. Indescribable would be the best way to describe Machu Picchu, however, I'll describe how breathtaking this place really is. Once we started our 2 hour tour we were informed, by our tour guide Esmerelda, that Machu Picchu is really made up of three mountains, Huayna Picchu (Young Mountain,) Machu Picchu (Old Mountain) "Happy Mountain" (though no one can quite figure out why it's called Happy Mountain). In the middle of the three is a village where the Incan people used to live and they were actually quite an advanced group of people. There was a system in place similar to the aqueduct system in Rome where they brought water from the nearby river to the town for people to use and to help with irrigation. Actually, "town" may not be an appropriate term considering there may have been more than 1,000 people living there at one time. Our tour comprised of walking to the top of Machu Picchu (8,000 feet above sea level) and overlooking the Incan city, then slowly making our way down to see houses, temples and different statues. Cool doesn't even begin to describe how amazing this experience was (when people say that going to Machu Picchu is a life changing experience, they really mean it!). Esmerelda also told us that this city is now referred to as the Lost City of the Incas because during their construction of the city all of the people fled for some reason, and no one is sure why. Towards the end of our tour and after our last group shot at the bottom of Machu Picchu we looked up to see the top of the mountain, where we had been, and the city where these people lived almost 600 years ago. To be able to walk around a piece of Peruvian history, I'm sure we would all agree, was really a life changing experience. So the moral of the story is, add Machu Picchu to your to-do list and we ensure that you will not be disappointed!
-Molly a.k.a. the freshman
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