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one of the planet’s most famous check-
list attractions. In case you haven’t
heard by now, there are no roads
that reach Aguas Calientes, which is
the charming town at the base of the
mountain. Your choices are either
a 2 or 4-day hike along the famous
Inca Trail, or a 5-hour train journey
that leaves from Cusco each morn-
ing. If you are in a hiking mood you
should investigate and probably book
your trek well in advance since space
each day is limited to 500 people. For
people considering arriving by rails
you can usually book the trip the day
before at any one of about a thousand
Cusco travel agencies.
No matter which method you will
try, you’ll be leaving from the an-
cient Incan capital city of Cusco,
which is actually at a significantly
higher altitude than the Machu Pic-
chu mountaintop itself. This makes
it an ideal place to acclimatize to the
altitude before the trek, but also reason
to take it easy for at least your first day
there. Fortunately, Cusco is an excel-
lent, fun, and beautiful city on
its own. There are many other
worthwhile attractions nearby,
and the nightlife and restau-
rant scenes are surprisingly
good too.
3 – Tikal, Guatemala
If you are going to
see just one set of
Mayan ruins in
your life, you
might as well
make it the
largest and
grandest of
them all.
Located
in
north-
ern Guate-
mala
within the
boundaries of the
Tikal National Park,
these amazing ruins have
been discovered deep in a
rainforest, and only a small
percentage of them have
been uncovered at this
point. Tours start early in
the morning, and one high-
light is being serenaded by
the many howler monkeys
who live in the trees above
you. The “howl” is re-
ally more of a roar, and is
a sound you won’t soon
forget.
To visit Tikal most people either
take a short flight from
Guatemala City or a
half-day bus
ride from
Be-
lize City.
The ruins are
about 30 kilometers
from the small town on an
island lake called Flores, which
dates back to the 13th Century, has
quite a few cheap hotels, and is a great
attraction unto itself. The larger town
of Santa Elena is just across the cause-
way from the island, and it has some
even cheaper accommodations, but is
far less charming.
ry to see on around the world trip
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