Cusco, Peru & Machu Picchu

Cusco, Peru was an amazing city! I only wished I had more time to spend there. (Of course that's kind of how I feel about my entire trip!) The architecture was so amazing and the cobblestone streets were so cool. Some of the streets were only one car wide and I couldn't believe people would drive down the streets. Cusco is one of the highest cities in the world, sitting at 11,000 ft. above sea-level, but surprisingly I felt no horrible effects of the altitude. I was too excited to be there. I loved the sight of it from the minute I got there. I spent one day exploring the center of the city like the Plaza de Armas (in the photos above) and was lucky enough to be staying in a hostel just across the street from one of the biggest markets in the city! Needless to say, I spent a lot of time there browsing through the fresh fruits, bread and jewelry. My second full day consisted of a horseback tour that didn't go exactly as planned, but I did get to summit a huge mountain and see Cusco from above. Plus I hadn't ridden a horse in quite some time, so it was an adventure for sure. Although I didn't get to see everything I wanted to (due in part to this tour) all my bad feelings went away the next morning when I arrived at MACHU PICCHU!!

Machu Picchu was the most incredible sight I have ever seen and totally worth everything I had gone through to get there. Next time, I'm going to definitely extend the stay and travel by the whole Inca Trail, but I'm glad I got to see the city. It's just unreal. The whole thing was constructed almost completely with stones and there are llamas and giant chinchillas running about, not even caring about the massive groups of people visiting their home. Our tour guide was incredible at telling us the history and explaining all aspects of the village and I had a great time. I even met another girl traveling alone from Canada so we had a good time together. The city outside of Machu Picchu called Aguas Calientes was super cute as well. It's very small, but is lined with restaurants, hotels, markets and even has hot springs! A definite place I'd recommend spending more time in.

Here's me rocking my UW hat and just happened to run into a WSU Cougar on the mountain. What are the chances!? We had to take a picture because it was just too great. All in all, the small amount of Peru I saw, I definitely loved it and can't wait to go back and see more!