This has been a whirlwind of a week! After ending things in Villa El Salvador, we headed to Cusco, Peru for a week of debrief. The cobblestone streets, the nice parks and flowers, the cafes, restaurants, and beautiful buildings in the midst of mountains were a nice break from the sand-filled, non-attractive streets of Villa El Slavador. Andrew Shearman, his wife, and son-in-law came to train us and encourage us. It was a good week to re-focus and re-energize!
On the last day, we went to Machu Picchu. The day started out early at 5:45am as we headed down to breakfast. At 6:15am we loaded on two busses for an hour and a half ride to a train station. We boarded our 9:00am train and were off to Machu Picchu. The train ride was beautiful as it took us through snow-capped mountains and alongside a rapid river. The train ride was two hours long.
Then, we finished with a 25 minute bus ride up the mountain to Machu Picchu. We entered the park and were welcomed by the famous Machu Picchu picture.
We then had the option of going on a tour of Machu Picchu or trying to climb a place called Waynapicchu. We were told it was going to be an hour and a half hike each way and we only had 3 hours. We decided to go anyways.
In the picture above, i’m pointing to Waynapicchu, where we climbing to. Ginger , Annie, and I managed to make it to the top in 30 minutes. It was a decently hard hike and I was breathing hard, partly because of the altitude and partly because the lack of exercise the past month. Here are some pictures from the top:
Ryan and I, Spring Arborites, atop of Machu Picchu. (Side story: I was wearing a “Spring Arbor University” t-shirt as I climbed Waynapicchu. I passed a woman on her way down and she said, “You’re from Spring Arbor, Michigan, huh?” The woman grew up in Detroit and went to conferences at the college when she was in school, but now she lives in New Jersey. How crazy is that! Some people in Michigan don’t even know where Spring Arbor is.)
Me, Candice, Clinton, and Bri atop Waynapicchu.
Me in a window at the ruins.
Ginger and Annie climbing down.
A rainbow overlooking the beautiful mountainside. (See the squiggly line up the mountain, that’s the raod to get to the top – back and forth, back and forth.)
