Perú

So before going to Peru and hiking the four-day Inca Trail I honestly couldn’t tell you much about the Incas or Machu Picchu. Now hopefully I remember enough to give yall a brief history lesson! (Please keep reading! I promise its all really interesting stuff!)


Machu in Kechua means old and Picchu means mountain or summit. Machu Picchu literally means Old Mountain. Pretty cool, huh? But most of the names of the cities that are now ruins were changed when the Spanish came, so the original names are lost forever.

Near the city of Machu Picchu they found 173 mummies/dead people and of these bodies around 150 or so were women’s, which means that Machu Picchu was probably built for women.

The Incas only made human sacrifices when they were going through incredibly difficult times. Then they would sacrifice the prettiest little boy and the prettiest little girl in the town by feeding them plants (aka drugging them) and then burying them alive or putting them in the river. This sounds awful to us but for them it was an honor to be chosen for sacrifice. Occasionally they would also sacrifice teenage girls in the same way.

Machu Picchu was divided into two parts by a geologic fault line (I know all about these because I took Environmental Geology). The two parts were the agricultural and the actual city where they lived.

The American Hiram Bingham discovered Machu Picchu on accident.

No one knows for sure how long it took the Incas to build Machu Picchu because some of the buildings were found unfinished. Also the whole community worked to build it and they weren’t on a time schedule so that’s why everything was built to last.


Now my experience in Perú was absolutely AMAZING! I hiked the four-day Inca Trail to Machu Picchu and stayed a day in Cusco. The trail was difficult because its all stone steps or mostly and the altitude is so incredibly high that I got a few headaches from it. The hiking was tough but the archeological sites we saw along the way and the moment when Machu Picchu came into site made it worth it. Seeing Machu Picchu in person is breathtaking. Just thinking about the Incas and the hard work they put into their city and the fact that 80% of it is still the original buildings.
Cusco is a very touristy town, yet I didn’t feel like it gave off a cheesy vibe. It was still very authentic in some places. I went to the San Pedro market where they literally had EVERYTHING. Alpaca sweaters, fresh fruit, vegetables, meats, flowers, cheese, other knick-knacks and more. I could have stayed there all day. I seriously just fell in love with Peru and think if I ever had the opportunity to study abroad again I would go there.
Besitos,
Gaby