Inca Trail - Day 4
Machu Picchu
19.07.2010 - 19.07.2010
71 °F
Day 4: We reluctantly woke up at 3:30am, packed up and sat down for tea and pancakes. We had to wake up early for two reasons to get to the Machu Picchu entrance before the hundreds of others cue up and because our porters had to make a 5am train which was a two hour walk. They have to run in order to make the train. I have mad respect for them. We finished eating and stood in line at the entrance until it opened at 5:30am. At this point we are in the Amazon, so it's dark enough to see every star in the sky, just beautiful. Once it opened and we were allowed entry, we walked for two hours on what the guides call 'Inca flat' trails meaning it's not flat at all. We were high up on a ridge looking down the valley toward a raging river, but I was too focused on where I was going to step to be afraid if the drop. We made it to the Sun Gate, which was the final gringo killers with 20-30 stairs straights up. Once past the gate, you see Machu Picchu in the far distance. At this point we are so high up it looks to be about the size of my hand. We take our pictures and then wait for the sun to rise and wash over the ruins. Such a beautiful sight. After Machu Picchu is fully exposed by the sun, we make our way down a skinny path until we are dumped out on one of the thousands of terraces built by the Incas. We could see all of the Natural Geographic angles that had been taken in the past, and took the sames ones, only with us in them. We all felt like such champions, having gone through what we had to get there. It was such a fantastic feeling walking through the place we have been working toward for 4 days. It was as fantastic as I always imagined. Our guide, Maria, gave us a good two hour tour of the entire site. There really is no where you can not go, it's free play. Towards the end of the day, the four of us had seen it all, and felt like we had done it all, so we just sat on one of the terraces watching Llamas eating below, and taking in Machu Picchu for the last time. After a bit of relaxing we made our way to bus which took us down to the town below, Aguas Calientes, where we enjoyed massages for $20 and had celebratory Piscos and beer until our train arrived at 6:45pm. We arrived back to our hotel at 10pm, happy to have a shower and a comfy bed. Ahhh what a trip.
Josh and I now feel as if we can take on anything and succeed, but at the same time know we could never survive, or would want to try to survive, something like that again. In fact, we made a vow to camp only in campers from now on and make sure there is always alternate transportation than walking/hiking. haha!
Posted by JAM2010 21.07.2010 14:06 Archived in Peru
