Carlos, Rafa and the two of us met up with the Rafa’s family in Bogotá and started our trip to Cusco. The beauty of the city suprised us: the old town is very welcoming with its white buildings, huge squares, countless churches and high peaks all around it. As Cusco lies at 3.600m above sea level, the air is already quite thin and it can take you a few days to adjust to the conditions.

 

 

 

We took a bus from Cusco to Ollantaytambo to hop on our Vistadome train to Machu Picchu. The train ride is stunning, as you go straight through green valleys right inside the Andes. The final destination is Aguas Calientes, where we stayed for two nights to explore Machu Picchu. We can now understand why it is one of the New 7 Wonders of the World! It is truly magical to see the ruins sitting between the Wayna Picchu and Machu Picchu mountains!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The train took us back to Ollantaytambo, where we went on a tour to see the Sacred Valley and explored the salt mines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cusco is a good base to not only visit Machu Picchu, but several other beautiful places. We decided to take the tour to the Rainbow Mountains: colourful peaks that lie at 5.000m and are definitely worth the hike. We reached the top with clear skies and were stunned by the different shades of red and yellow. To regain our strenght after the tour, we had a delicious Cuy (guinea pig) in a traditonal Peruvian restaurant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortuately, Carlos, Rafa and his family had to leave us the day after. We loved to have them all with us in Perú and had a great time discovering everything together!

We took our last 2 days to further explore the city and to take the tour to the Humantay Lake at 4.200m. The hike was way tougher than the Rainbow Mountains, as 80% of the path goes uphill and you can really feel the lack of oxygen. Nevertheless, we reached the top and got blown away by the amazing view! The lake is turqouise blue and the surrounding glacier is reflected by the crystal clear water, a perfect mirror.

 

 

 

This last tour was a great end to our week in Perú and we will now change back to sea level and beach life on the Galápagos Islands.