Machu Picchu and Peru

Each year, my work sets goals to accomplish - including client revenue targets, research goals, and team improvement. We earn points toward a goal trip where we spent between 3 & 7 days doing team building exercises and just having a good time. Depending on the number of points we achieve, we can reach any of four thresholds, each one representing an increasingly impressive destination. This year was the first time we have reached the top level. Our reward - a seven day trip to Machu Picchu in Peru.



When we arrived in Peru, we had some tour guides and llamas and alpacas there to greet us, but not my luggage. It didn't arrive until Tuesday (we got there on Sunday), so needless to say, I was grateful for clean underwear and a new pair of socks. Upon our arrival, we flew from Lima to Cusco and then drove to the nearby Sacred Valley of the Incas. We spent the rest of the day exploring some ruins(a common theme of the trip) and then drove to our hotel. At the right you can see a photo of Syed and me in the Sacred Valley with some terraces in the background.

The next day we visited Ollantaytambo, another impressive Incan site. Take a look at the two pictures on the left. The second picture shows what you find at the top of the steps in the first picture - and it is believed that the crazy Incans brought those huge rocks from a few miles away just to put on the top. All I can say is that they must have been very devoted to some cause or else they would never have gone through all the effort to make sure the masonry was so sound or to carry rocks to the site from miles away. Below you can see an example of just how tight the joints are in the masonry and how carefully the blocks all fit together. Later in the day we visited a salt mine which you can see pictured to the right.

The next two days were spent visiting the legendary Machu Picchu, one of the modern wonders of the world. I will let the pictures do most of the talking for me about what a wonderful experience it was to be there.
Below is a view of some of the ruins at Machu Picchu with Wayna Picchu mountain in the background. Later in our trip, we climbed to the summit of that mountain. It was about a 2 hour hike but it was well worth the view.
We were lucky enough to see some beautiful rainbows while we were at Machu Picchu (after sitting in a sheltered area for about 45 minutes to allow a rainstorm to pass through). Below you can see a shot of one of them.When we were done at Machu Picchu we took a train ride back to Cusco where we spent most of the next two days. The first day, the city was on strike, so we spent a lot of the day at the hotel taking care of company business. When we did go out in the afternoon, we visited one of the Catholic churches and the Incan sun temple which the Spanish had redecorated a little bit. Can you tell which is which? During the evening, one of our tour guides took us on a walk around Cusco to see some of the places that tourists don't usually get to see. I really enjoyed this part of the afternoon - getting to see locals do what they do when tourists aren't flocking around. One of my coworkers even spotted some missionaries out spreading the gospel :-).

On the last day, we went to some more ruins close to Cusco and then caught a short flight to Lima. We spent the afternoon visiting the main square in Lima and at night, we got to see a beautiful sunset on the beach. It is amazing to think that in the course of a few hours, we went from beautiful mountain scenery at an elevation of around 13,000 feet to sea level and an ocean view. Below are some photos from Lima.

I had a great time in Peru. I was expecting Machu Picchu to be far and away the highlight of the trip, but I enjoyed it all. Everything about the civilization of the Incas interested me, and I enjoyed seeing some of the diversity of the country. By the end of the trip, I was happy to be coming home. Every time I come back into the United States and see the big flags when I am passing through customs, I smile and feel a sense of gratitude for the blessing I have to live here in the USA - the greatest nation in the world.


Next year, the top goal trip is to the Great Barrier Reef. Megan says that we better start saving now so that if we hit that goal she can come down after the company part of the trip is over :-).