Machu Pichu

I finally made it to Machu Pichu. We ended the 5 day trek in the town of Aquas Calientes, which means hot water. The town is at the base of the mountain where Machu Pichu sits. We woke up at 4 a.m. to be in the line to take the buses up at 5 a.m. The buses run all day up and down the mountain. The ride takes about 25 minutes and covers at least 10 switchbacks in each direction. All the tourists in the town line up to try and be one of the first 400 people on the mountain. At 5 a.m. is seemed like pure madness. We waited our turn, got on the bus in the dark, fog, and mist, and began to climb the mountain. I of course got bus sick.

At machu Pichu, there are a number of treks around the site to see. One of which is Winapichu, meaning young mountain. Only 400 people are allowed to climb this mountain each day. 200 at 7 a.m. and 200 at 10 a.m. All the tourists rush to the far end of Machu Pichu to line up to get a ticket to climb Winapichu. The 7 o´clock showing has a 40-50% chance of seeing the sun rise over the ruins site of Machu Pichu, and thus is the coveted spot. We were late getting in the bus line (5 a.m.) and got tickets to the 10 o´clock showing. It was now about 6:15 in the morning an began with our guided tour.

When we arrived, the mountain was covered in fog. There was a mystical air abour the vast site, and although it sprinkled from time to time, I couldn´t have been happier. My morning pictures display wonder and spirituality in a way that only moving fog can illuminate. The guide showed us the key aspects of the site, the original stones, and proffered ideas into why and how it was built the way it had been. It was so hard to pay attention because everywhere I looked was more wonderous than the next. I know I need to do more reading on the site and the Inca to truely appreciate what I have seen.

At 9, the tour was over and my friends and I decided to go get a bite to eat and use the restrooms. All the restrooms and food are outside of the site (which can be a long way back), but htis ensured that the ruins were spotless. After we regrouped and powered up, me Jo Jo and Andrew from my group of 5 friends decided to go climb the Windapichu Mountain. In line, we met others from our trek. The climb was virtually virtical. We first went up, around, and down the smaller "hill" in front of Winapichu, and then climbed directly up for about 25 minutes. When we got to the top with where the Inca ruins were, a man told us to climb to the left. Using hands and feet, we began to climb these stairs up and up and up. We were soon greeted by a very angry Italain, who yelled profusely at us. Apparenly, we were going up the "down" side. We were half way up and decided to get yelled at repeatedly, rather than go back down just to climb up another way.

Eventually, we got to the ruins and needed a break. We took so many fun picutres and then continued our way up and around the remaining ruins. Finally, we made it to the top, via the back "exit." The others from our trek had about 5-10 minutes on the top before they had to decend so they could catch their train back to Cusco. We were quite happy that I insisted on staying another day, so we were able to sit up there for about half an hour or so. The view of Machu Pichu was completely different, and not one seen often from the travel guides. The sun had just broke through the clouds and we felt as if we were on top of the world. We could see the mountains that we had climbed up and down the previous 4 days. This gave me a HUGE sense of pride and accomplishment.

I could have stayed there all day. However, we were hungry, I needed to use the restroom and the facilities and food were back 45 minutes down the mountain and then another 15+ minutes thorugh the site back to the entrance. Additionally, Andrew and Jo Jo were meeting Meghan and Erin to go back down to Aquas Calientes to take care of their sore, swollen, and infected bodies.