Good day, Steemians!

My friends @herbic and @sovereignsam are blasting FB with their real-time trip to Peru, and it has me all nostalgic for my journeys to Machu Picchu. 

Would you like to take a walk down memory lane with me? 

During the year I lived in Peru, I was blessed to visit Machu Picchu with my friends not once, but twice! 😍

^{That's me & the Brazilians in the lower right!} 

^{And me and the white ladies/Brazilians! On this trip, we saw a 360 degree rainbow around the sun at high noon 🌈}

We drove from Cusco to Santa Maria, where we enjoyed the hot springs and the random man who volunteered to take photos of us while we were in them.

From Santa Maria, we took a combi to the hydroelectric dam outside of Santa Teresa, then we hiked along the railroad tracks next to the Urubamba River. This is a super cheap and super fun way to get to Machu Picchu, y'all! 

^{The Incan citadel sits up in the Andes Mountains, just yonder round that one in the upper left. It's a primo locale that looks out over the entire valley.} 

There are avocado trees, exotic jungle plants, and beautiful flowers along the way.

We hiked to and spent the night in Aguas Calientes, and woke early to take a bus up to Machu Picchu to see the sunrise!

We saw some llamas

and played on the terraces--some of which are hollow, btw. Maybe there are underground rooms?! 

Machu Picchu is actually a really huge, spread out complex--there's a lot more to it than the area people recognize from classic photos. 

^{This is near the section called the Inca Bridge.} 

^{and this is a photo of the Sun Temple I took from pixabay, since I didn't take any pics there myself.} 

We did yoga and poi and hula hooped

and contemplated existence.

Nobody really knows why or how this complex was built, but we had a great time considering it!

^{Super shout out to my Oklahomie Matt @ Tranquil Waters Pool Care!}

My point in sharing this post is to

1) Inspire some majestic feels.

2) Preserve memories on the blockchain. Fucking FB is deleting some of my photos, and I don't have access to a few of my memory cards anymore either. But my heart will live on and on here on our beloved Steemit--viva la blockchain!!

AND 

3) Recommend Machu Picchu to one and all! It's an incredible, powerful place that pictures barely capture. Additionally, there are even older and way less visited ruins throughout Peru, and you can actually run around and play on stuff at those ones!! If serious adventure is your jam, I suggest checking them out too. 

^{Kuelap, in the north, was thought to be a fortress of the Chachapoyas peeps, and it's in a romantic sounding environment called a "cloud forest".}

^{Temple of the Monkey outside Cusco}

^{Temple of the Moon outside Cusco, image source}

..and there are literally HUNDREDS if not THOUSANDS more throughout the country!! 

¡¡¡Viva el Perú!!!

I hope you're inspired to go out and explore!
What's the most amazing place you've seen??

💛 Sara!
^{~all images are my own except the two I credited~}