A Trip to Machu Picchu with our Peru Intern

Lisa Meehan is the United Planet Peru Program Intern and a student at Tufts University where she is majoring in Spanish and International Relations. Lisa works daily with our volunteers in Peru to ensure that they have an enjoyable and overall successful Quest experience. We asked her to write about her work while in Peru, and here’s what she had to say about their latest trip to Machu Picchu! 

Every weekend, different groups of United Planet volunteers enjoy 2 day-long trips to Machu Picchu. This weekend, I got to tag along with an awesome group of volunteers: Emily, Chelsea, Vanessa, Justin, Sally, Jenna, and Sasha! We had an AWESOME trip!

The weekend started off on a good note, with all of us taking the bus to Ollantaytambo together. We enjoyed McDonalds takeout and Doritos, rocked out to Peruvian discoteca music, played around with my camera, and learned all about the surrounding areas from the bus driver. We caught a quick second of the World Cup in a café in Ollantaytambo, and then got on the train to Aguas Calientes! The train ride was definitely the coolest train ride ever – I will never be able to go back to the boring T in Boston. The train took us through spectacular valleys, into tunnels carved out of the mountainsides, and along the beautiful Sacred Valley river. We also got free snacks and drinks!

When we arrived in Aguas Calientes, we were all exhausted but so excited to explore the town! We all got dinner together at a restaurant that gave us free nachos. A lot of the volunteers decided to get Inca Kola to drink – a popular soda in Peru that many volunteers get addicted to. We saw fountains, statues, a guy with a pet monkey, and lots of other tourists from all around the world! I wish we could have hung out around there for longer, but we had to go to sleep early so we would be well rested for Machu Picchu in the morning.

I never thought I would be excited to wake up at 3:45 a.m., but I was so psyched on Sunday morning to hike up to Machu Picchu. Though you are allowed to take a bus, most of the volunteers opted to take the Incan foot trail from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu – traveling up to the sacred city the same way that people did half a millennium ago! As we walked up the 1,200 stairs, the sun started to rise and we started to be able to see all of the spectacular mountains surrounding us as we tried not to collapse from exhaustion during the 2 and a half hour hike.

We got up to Machu Picchu itself a little after 6:00 in the morning and met our guide, Jonathan Champi (or CHAMPPIIIII, as we called him). He took us into the ruins and showed us around, telling us about the shrouded history of the location. One of the volunteers, Emily, told Champi about her obsession with llamas, so he made sure that she got to pet one and take a picture with it! For the rest of the day, all the volunteers joked that he had a little crush on her.

Then we all enjoyed hiking up Machu Picchu Mountain together. It was one of the most difficult but rewarding hikes I have ever done – the view from the mountain was spectacular! We were all so exhausted after that that we went to the Machu Picchu café to watch the World Cup final – it’s not every day you get to watch a soccer game in Machu Picchu. The crowd watching the game was bigger than the crowd in the ruins themselves.

Finally, after 12 hours exploring the ruins, we hiked back down to Aguas Calientes and caught the train back to Cusco. I was so sad to leave – photos cannot do Machu Picchu justice. It was the most spectacular thing I have ever seen! I am so glad I got to go.

As amazing as Machu Picchu was, my favorite part of the weekend was the time I got to spend with the United Planet volunteers. Every single day they blow me away with how cool, kind, interesting, and adventurous they are. From talking with Sasha about theater, to making a Cusco bucket list with Justin on the train, to bonding with Sally over our exhaustion from hiking, to talking with Vanessa about her trip to Lake Titicaca, to giving Jenna college application advice, to obsessing over llamas with Emily, to freaking out about dogs with Chelsea, I had a great time with all of them. We all really got to bond from spending so much time together, and I am looking forward to continuing to hang out with them!

All in all, our trip to Machu Picchu was a successful weekend! I am so excited to see what new crazy shenanigans all the volunteers get up to next!

Thank you Lisa for sharing this story with us! Your descriptions and renditions of events truly put us in the moment. We look forward to hearing more, and will post updates as they come! If you are interested in an experience like Lisa’s, click here to find out more about United Planet’s Peru Quests