i am the luckiest

As seems to be fairly usual for me, I am at loss for words when it comes to explaining my trip over the the last week and a half. We returned yesterday and I don't think I have quite yet recovered from the shock of the amazing time that I had. That and I still have yet to make up for my lack of sleep. But overall, it was far beyond even my expectations. That is saying a lot as I am easily disappointed (not a good thing I know). Here is a quick overview of what we did.

Cusco: We spent three days here and I am so happy. The first day we rested after a long overnight flight and then did a bit of exploration. Cusco is a very old city that has remains from the Incan times as well as lots of Spanish architecture from later. There are lots of churches and ferias and we had a great time looking around. It was also good to spend time here as we had a chance to acclimate to the altitude (~3000m) which we needed before we started hiking.

Valle Sagrado de los Incas: Basically this was just a tour of a bunch of Incan ruins surrounding Cusco. It was really interesting and cool. It gave us a basic idea of the Incas and what they did and was a great introduction for all that we learned hiking and at Machu Picchu.

Camino Inca AKA the Inca Trail: A 4 day, 47km hike from a small town outside of Cusco to the famous ruins of Machu Picchu. At times easy and at times hard, we hiked past several archaeological sites and ruins, up and down a mountain, slept in tents, had rain, hail, clouds, sun, wind and heat, learned a lot, slept a little, saw the most beautiful views of our lives and had a great time. I would recommend to anyone who wants to visit Machu Picchu to do this, it made arriving there so worth it.

Machu Picchu: Yep, it was just as good as I had hoped. Climbing through the Sun Gate and gazing out over Wayna Picchu mountain and the ruins of Machu Picchu was amazing. Standing and taking a photo at the typical "postcard photo" spot that you see in all the pictures was incredible. Basically being there was a dream come true. I took a million pictures of it all, but even without them I could remember just how great it really was. The Incas are absolutely fascinating to me. How they did what they did with what they has is almost unimaginable. I learned so much about this ancient and truly brilliant culture and I couldn't be happier about it.

Yep it was a spectacular trip. Now I am back to class and life here in Chile for the next few weeks. It's hard to believe that I only have 6 weeks left. The time has flown past so quickly. I will just finish off my last month here and then use the last 2 weeks to travel. I don't know where I am going, but it is sure to be an adventure.