Choquequirao: Re-discovering Machu Picchu's 'sacred sister'

I'm seated cross-legged on a narrow terrace thousands of feet above the raging Apurimac River, the jagged silhouettes of the Peruvian Andes before me, the glowing stones of a 15th-century Incan wall warming my back.

And all I can think about is how insanely lucky I am to have this place all to myself.

Thirty miles away as the crow flies, thousands of sweaty, camera-toting tourists are jockeying for position in various lines at Machu Picchu: one to purchase a few squares of toilet paper; one to climb the sacred Huayna Picchu Mountain; another to board one of the smoke-belching people-movers that deliver roughly 3,000 pilgrims daily to the world-famous archeological site.

Has Machu Picchu, The 'Lost City Of The Incas,' Become A Victim Of Its Own Success?

The president of Peru announced plans Wednesday to build an airport near the city of Cusco, base camp for the pre-Columbian ruins of Machu Picchu, in order to boost tourism to the surrounding region.

President Ollanta Humala said the $460 million facility would replace Velazco Astete Airport, which is only capable of handling limited daytime flights and has cost Peru key international airline links, including many with the United States.

Hiking Ciudad Perdida - The Lost City

While most hikers and outdoor adventure enthusiasts head straight for the majesty of Machu Picchu or the wonder of Patagonia, they often miss out on one of the most wild and spectacular areas in South America.

Ciudad Perdida, also known as the Lost City, is found in the Sierra Nevada Mountains just outside of Santa Marta in Colombia. It is a remote area, only accessible by hiking and the trek takes 5-6 days through ancient paths in the jungle, over 25km of coca plantations, across numerous rivers and finally 1200 steep steps to the top.

The lost city of the Incas

Coming to Machu Picchu felt like a pilgrimage of sorts. We'd been making our way towards it for 2 days now, and this morning, we still had a 20-minute bus ride separating us from these ancient ruins.

We walked out of our hotel just after 7 am and were relieved to see the sun peeking out from behind the mountains around us. Our prayers had been answered and it looked like we were going to have at least a couple of hours of blue sunny skies before clouds and possibly rain set in. There was no line at the bus station, as the really hard-core people had already gone up before dawn. The road up to Machu Picchu is a hair-raising one. In most places, it's just wide enough for one bus, so there were a couple of times when we had to go backwards to make room for a bus coming back down. In addition, the route is realy steep as we gained over 400 m (1200 ft) from Aguas Callientes. The person with a window seat next to me was pretty much staring down at the abyss below us.