20/12/18 We woke up early to walk to the train station located 10 min walk from the hotel. Then we boarded the Inca Rail train to Machu Picchu. The view from the train, which had glass windows even on the roof, was amazing as we could see snowy mountains and we crossed the forest. We could spot the inca trail, that fit and more adventurous tourists take to reach Machu Picchu in 4 days trek. For a few hours Amelia our guide for the day gave us some history about the site while we explored the temples, terraces and buildings of the sacred site. It is bigger than I expected and surrounded by many mountains very steep, so it is well protected against nature disasters and invasions of ennemies. The site has many buildings built with delicate architecture (stones are cut very sharply and are assembled like a perfect puzzle) for the important people and many others of a more rustic architecture for the lower class people. The site never suffered from Spanish invasions unlike most of other Peruvian cities, so only time has reduced the height of the walls and the roofs have disappeared. You can find temples that represent water, sun or condors and many stones and buildings are oriented towards certain stars, mountains or sun (to celebrate the solstice).
According to my phone, I have climbed 162 floors today. At relatively high altitude (3800m) we were all really tired by the end of the day. We took a train back to Agua Caliente were we had a late lunch (5pm) as we are not allowed to eat on the site and a van was waiting for us later to bring us back to the hotel.
21/12/18 The next day was a free day in Cuzco so we did a bit of shopping and watched a traditional parade celebrating the winter solstice. Peruvians wore traditional costumes and played music while dancing around the church of the main square of Cuzco.
We went to a nice restaurant (Rucola) for dinner and had a great time with the rest of the group who made silly jokes, the atmosphere was quite relaxed for a full moon night as we were all recovering from the previous day.
22/12/18 We took a bus to reach the airport as our flight for Lima departs around 9am. Another guide was at the arrivals to pick us up and he dropped us at the same hotel as the first one we had 2 weeks ago. We visited Huaca Pullaca, the archeological site that we could not visit previously as it was closed. An American girl who joined the tour saw my wound and asked if it was from a motorbike exhaust, as it happened to her twice ?.
We went for a last round of souvenirs shopping and met with Sasha for our last dinner at a Chinese restaurant close to the hotel. The food was delicious but the portions were incredibly big so we asked for doggy bags and gave them to a couple at the local church who were really happy to get food as they were on their way out after the evening mass. Christmas spirit ?.
23/12/18 A taxi took us to Lima airport. Lori and I are going back to Brussels but with different flights. I decided not to go to Brazil and Argentina and make a stopover in Belgium instead to celebrate Christmas with the family. The airport police in Lima were parading and performing Christmas songs with colourful costumes. 11h flight to Madrid then another 2h for Brussels. As I was texting my old friend Gaële who’s mother is my mom’s best friend, I learned that they both would be in Belgium for Christmas too (they live in France now) so we organised a surprise Christmas dinner all together ?.
