One of the Seven Wonders of the World - Machu Picchu

Finally, what we have been waiting for all along we finally got to see.. And it was awesome! Of course, we had to wake up way early to get to see it but it was worth it. About a 20 minute bus ride from where were staying in Aguas Calientes took us up to a cold, rainy, foggy, and very eerie old mountain (Machu Picchu). We took about a 2 hour tour, guided by one of the locals, which gave us the history of the Incas that lived here and the discovery of the site. It took the Incas about a 100 years to build MP and only lived there for about 50. They built MP on top of this mountain because in their religion they believed they were closer to the sun god and it also protected from neighboring tribes (that did't think much of their mortality). In approx. 1545 the Incas packed up as much of their gold, idols, and ceramics and fled from the Spanish who were making their way across Peru from Cusco. The Incas destroyed half the trail from Cusco to MP so the Spanish could not find them.....and it worked. MP was not discovered until the early 1900s by a Peruvian guide who decided to benefit from this discovery by selling artifacts to private collectors. He did not tell anyone about MP. 28 years later MP was discovered by an American named Hirim Bingham who led an archeological dig for 3 years.

Walking through the ruins (Brecken, Phong, Tate, and I) we were in awe of the complexity and size of what was created by the Incas. The construction of walls, roofs, the irrigation system, agricultural terraces, and temples were amazing. A couple reasons why the ruins have lasted so long is because they designed them to be earthquake-proof and the built-in irrigation. The guide told us several highly educated engineers have studied the ruins and could not figure out how parts of it were built with the 16th century technology available.

We took tons and tons of pictures, probably too many. After about 6 hours of being baked by the sun (Brecken, Tate, and I all got sunburns) and getting bit by bugs we called it good and left. Instead of taking the bus back down the mountain we decided to hike down to our hotel. After the previous day's hike our legs and calves were taking another round of beatings.

Once we got back to town we were all starving and needed to replace the billion calories burned that day. So, we took a stroll to this pizza joint and all ate 3 "gigantica"-size pizzas (named that by the pizza joint).. We first ordered 1 thinking it would be a huge pizza (American-sized) but it was just a tease.. 2 more pizzas and 2 liters of beer finally hit the spot...

In all, MP was freaking awesome. It made you really want to be a fly on the wall when the Inca's inhabited the place just to see how they lived. The 3 rules lived by the Incas were: 1) do not lie 2) do not steal 3) do not be lazy. It was evident they weren't lazy by the amount of effort went into building this site. Also, they weren't even done building it by the time they left. They were still constructing it and there are still ruins being excavated today. Who knows what else they'll find up there in the coming years..

"Engaged on top of a mountain" - Ron Burgandy

I don't even know how to write this blog...I am still in shock...Russell and I are engaged. We arrived in Aguas Calientes this morning and even though we were both very tired we decided to hike up a mountain that is right next to Machu Picchu called Putucusi. It was a horrendous climb, tougher than anything I have ever done before...at one point we had to climb up ladders that went up a cliff wall. There were several times that I had to stop and if anyone has gone hiking with me they know I don't like to stop (sorry to say I am more about the destination and less the journey). I really didn't even want to go any further but Russell kept pushing me to continue (he obviously had an alterior motive). About 15 minutes to the top we passed two Americans that said to keep going it was going to be worth it, and it was. The view was incredible, you could see all of Machu Picchu...it was incredible. Again I promise to put pictures up when I get a chance. Then Russell tried pointing out some people that were on top of another mountain looking over Machu Picchu. I couldn't see them so he said "follow my finger" and at the end of his finger was a ring. You can guess what happened next: we broke up...we are no longer boyfriend and girlfriend. I guess I will have to get used to calling him my fiance.

Chased by wild dogs!

We are now in Aguas Calientes, which is a little town right outside of Machu Picchu. It has been hard to blog while traveling...I am used to just writing in a journal, which I can do at any time. Anyways...I will try to catch you up on the past couple of days.

We landed in Lima at about 5:00 AM so we were very tired and couldn't check into our room until 10:00. We took a walk along the boardwalk and the beach...it was very foggy out so you couldn't see much of the surrounding hills and the ocean. We walked through a park that reminded me a lot of Gaudi's Guell Park in Barcelona...it was a park decorated with broken tiles on it's one long bench. In the middle was a statue of lovers in a very lewd embrass having a very passionate kiss. I will try to post pictures once I am home so you can see what I am writing about.

Later that day we met up with my cousin Tait and his friend Phong...we had a very late lunch (which was actually at a normal time for Peruvians) and walked around the city. There really is not a whole lot to see in Lima...Russell and I walked through the main Cathedral which had the body of Francisco Pizzaro (the conquistador that conquered Peru). Through a tour guide we got to learn about all of the atrocities that Pizzaro committed towards the indigenious people of Peru...sounded a little like what happened with the Native Americans.

Lima is a city of 1 million people and it smells like it. They do not regulate their emissions so there is so much exhaust that you rarely get a sunny day. I realize that America is the number one consumer in the world when it comes to fuel, but at least we are trying to do something about the pollution and the environment. It is really sad to think of this beautiful place slowly dying because of cars. Okay, off the soap box.

After Lima we flew to Cusco, which was an adventure in itself. Our flight was cancelled and we weren't told, so we arrived at the Airport with no way to get to Cusco and we had train tickets for the next day to Calientas, so we had to fly out that day. After an hour of stressing out and trying to explain to a non-english speaking customer service rep that we wanted our money back so we could fly on another airline, we were able to get on LAN just 45 minutes after our original flight. One good thing...I found this great candy called Britt that is dark chocolate covered passion fruit...I am bringing some home for you all.

Once we got into Cusco we met up with Tait and Phong again, they had been in Cusco for about 5 hours and were having a blast exploring the town. We decided to go have Alpaca steaks for dinner, which I am sure a lot of you are saying "no don't eat the cute cuddly Alpaca," but damn they were good. We were told none of them had a name or a mother, so you need not worry.

After a very delicious dinner we headed up to this treehouse that was in the woods on a hill (Tait and Phong found it earlier). It was padlocked closed so we had to climb the tree (fun for me). We played Oh Hell for a while and then started to hear some rustling in the bushes down below, then some snarling and barking. A pack of wild dogs had caught our scent or maybe heard us all yelling at Tait because he was screwing us over in the card game. Anyways, we all got really quiet and they seemed to leave. We played on for about another half hour and then I had to break up the fun because I don't have an apparatus that can relieve myself when my bladder is full. We all climbed down very gracefully and grabbed a couple of sticks just in case someone decided to come back to play. After walking as quietly as we could through the brush Phong saw something moving and started yelling at a huge german shephard to "get back" while throwing rocks at it. The dog was as mad as Lucy is when she sees a squirrel. He bared its teeth but decided to go get back-up. We decided to run and scale a freakin 20 foot wall to safety (all while trying to avoid the cops that kept driving by). Just another exciting Donelson family adventure (Tait always knows how to find some action:).

10 hours and counting...

Would have been 11 hours and counting if it weren't for the most ridiculous account creating process ever to have been invented. All well, got an account now and so the trip begins here.. Just hours away from waking up at the crazy hour 4:30am! But, as much as I would love to get some sleep there's still plenty of packing to do. Procrastinator? Not me, but someone else whose name I won't mention in this blog quite yet... We're trying to get together all the last minute things one would need when going to Peru. Small stuff, you know.. like passport, money, that sort of stuff. Of course, we still have another 24 hours at least until we actually make it into Peru because of all the flying.. First to Miami, with a sweet five hour layover. Then we'll head right into Lima. I think both of us are going to be so restless by the time we get there we'll want to sprint up and down the runway a few times chasing some of the planes.. Ok, enough blabbing.. be back soon..