Peru and Machu Picchu -- Post 1

I came back from Peru and am catching up on sleep, email, news, etc. It was a one-week trip basically to see Machu Picchu and other Inca ruin sites with my cousin from New York. To see Inca's impressive, avant-garde civil engineering, against Spaniards' inferior building designs, was breathtaking.

I left on the election night and almost all tourists I met from all over the world asked about how we thought of the new President. Almost everyone expressed enthusiasm and joy (except for American tourists from Montana and Arizona) that Obama was elected as our new President. It was surprising how much the rest of the world took interest in American politics.

Anyway, here are some pictures from Peru vacation (although I'm pretty sure my cousin took much better ones!). Because I took over 300 pictures, I'm going to post only what I think are the best and in multiple posts. =)

We flew into Lima, Peru and then flew to Cusco, Peru the next day. On our flight from Lima to Cusco, Taca quite unexpectedly upgraded us to business class! This is my cousin, Gene, in our new upgraded seat. =)


From Lima to Cusco, we flew over Andes Mountain, covered in snow.

A hole in the wall near our hotel in Cusco, that served soup and entre for 4 soles. That's $1.33. No joke.


This was the soup... which was really good. Kinda brothy.
Cusco and Machu Picchu are at really high elevation. To combat that, I got prescription drugs and like the locals, drank coca tea.

One of the Inca site I visited in Cusco. That's our guide. Yes, the stones are really that big. And Incas somehow made them all fit! This is part of Sacsahwaman. Can you see Llama/Puma by the way stones are set right by our guide?

Sacsahwaman is a long snaking walls/fortress.


Apparently, Inca Indians were very much aware of earthquakes. So they built all their buildings in trapezoidal shape so that the buildings can withstand earthquakes. All the windows and doors are also built in trapezoidal shape.

Cusco valley from the top of Sacsahwaman.

Ollytomba -- part of the Sacred Valley which is just outside of Cusco.

It was 24 stories high. A lot of steps in high altitude!
Another example of how Inca built their buildings with stones that somehow fitted together so well!


This is the train track at Agua Caliente, the town at the foot of Machu Picchu. It's about 4 hour train ride from Cusco to Agua Caliente. Agua Caliente is pretty small (but full of restaurants and souvenir shops), and there are no taxis. Everyone has to walk. There is only one bus company that transport folks from Agua Caliente to Machu Picchu, which is about 35-45 minute ride. It starts going up at 5:30 am and last one down to Agua Caliente from Machu Picchu is at 5:30 pm.

Our tour of Machu Picchu began with taking the first bus -- 5:30 am. As we approached the top, sunlight began to shine on Machu Picchu.