Art teacher Patricia Chavez and her family sit atop Machu Picchu. In order to secure a spot on a guided tour, her cousin bought her and her family tickets months in advance. “[My] favorite part was actually getting there, finally seeing the ruins,” Chavez said. “It’s just so beautiful with all the mountains all around you. It was breathtaking.” (Photo courtesy of Patricia Chavez)

Out of breath, art teacher Patricia Chavez pauses from her trek to rest on a rock. Stone ruins surround her, perched on the top of a mountain with clouds hovering above. People and llamas alike wander around the ruins as Chavez takes in the beauty.

Over the summer, Chavez spent a week in Cusco, Peru. She hiked around Machu Picchu with her eldest son, her cousin and her Peruvian family.

“We took a three hour bus ride, and then a three hour train ride, and then we took a bus up to the mountain,” Chavez said. “Then, we hiked for about three hours in the Machu Picchu area. We had to get up at 3 a.m. and then we didn’t get [to] our hotel [until] 10 p.m.”

The Incan Empire ruled the Andes Mountains along the coast of South America in the 1400s and early 1500s. Chavez saw their terrace farming, sundials and old residences during her visit.

“[Incas] didn’t use mortar, so they cut stones so that they fit together perfectly, like a puzzle, without any mortar in between them to keep them together,” Chavez said. “They’re very tightly fitted and that technique is something that people [still look at] as an engineering feat for that time.”

For Chavez, visiting Machu Picchu with her family was a spiritual experience that connected her to her Incan heritage.

“The Incas really believed that everything has energy and everything is interconnected,” Chavez said. “Plants and animals, the Earth, the universe, the sun, the stars [and] people, we all have energy. We’re all interconnected. I really feel that philosophy myself and when I was there, I just felt like it all came together.”

To prepare for her trip to Machu Picchu, Chavez walked every day to build up her stamina, brushed up on her Spanish to better communicate and researched how to deal with altitude sickness.

“In Peru, one of the things they use are coca leaves to make tea,” Chavez said. “The coca leaf is medicinal and it helps with fatigue, nausea and altitude sickness. Almost every hotel has tea [that’s] free in the lobby for you to drink.”

This was not Chavez’s first trip to Machu Picchu. When she was 19 years old, she went to Machu Picchu alone. In her 20s, she explored Machu Picchu with her husband, brother and cousins.

“My plan right now is to bring each of my kids [to Machu Picchu] as they graduate high school,” Chavez said. “That’s why I went with [my eldest son]. I’ll probably try to go with [my second son] in the next two years, and then [with] my youngest son.”