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Published: September 21st 2008
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Before sunrise
Seeing everything in silhouette while waiting for the sunrise gave the whole morning a dreamlike quality. We were awakened prematurely in the morning by knocks on our door from the hostal owner, shouting, "
Desayuno! " (breakfast). I say "premature" because she was supposed to have come at our agreed-upon time, which was an hour later. Maybe in our exhaustion the previous night we had somehow misunderstood her. In any case, even if she hadn't been early, the local rooster would have taken over alarm duties in a few minutes. Which he did, loudly and repeatedly,
ad nauseam. I know that I'm city folk and really don't know much about this, but aren't roosters only supposed to crow once? (Or in Peter's case, three times?) This rooster was an overachiever, I guess.
Cranky with the knowledge that we could have slept another hour, we met up with Marco and walked through the deserted market of Aguas Calientes to get to the bus line. The weather was foggy, humid and cool, but not cold: a welcome departure from Cusco. The Machu Picchu buses were spacious and comfortable, and as ours wound its way up the hill through the fog, my bad mood slowly dissipated. I had wanted to visit Machu Picchu since I was little - to be
exact, in fifth grade when Jessica Canales and I did a report on the Incas in social studies class- and it hit me that I had finally done it. It was an emotional moment (but also one very likely augmented by lack of sleep).
We were very pleased that we could make a special Machu Picchu stamp in our passports at the entrance. (Note: Jamie and I are passport stamp fanatics. I squealed with happiness when I saw the Egyptian visa that I obtained pre-trip and still harbor resentment toward the custom officials in Qatar for their stamp stinginess. Why? Because a stamp from Qatar would have been fricking awesome, that's why!)
Marco led us up a series of steps and terraces to get to a good viewpoint to watch the sunrise over the ruins, which was supposed to occur at 7:15 am. The entire valley was shrouded in a thick mist, and at times all we could see below were the silhouettes of other tourists. And llamas. On cue at 7:15, the sky began to lighten as the sun rose over the peaks, exposing the... now very bright fog. Little by little, segments of hillside or ruin
would reveal themselves, only to be covered by cloudy whiteness a few moments later. It was a huge tease, but I didn't mind. I think that Marco was getting a little impatient because he wanted to get on with our tour already, but I thought, hey, I've been waiting for 20 years to see this. A few hours of calm, quiet anticipation is fine with me right now.
Finally, the vapors lifted slowly but dramatically, and the outlines of the ruins, summits, and terraces became more and more visible. The view was breathtaking: the mountains on our right and left, Huayna Picchu in front of us, and Machu Picchu below. I was surprised how crowded it was: Marco attributed it to the fact that it was Sunday, so local Peruvians were more likely to be visiting in addition to the expected high season tourists. We were also shocked at the disrespect with which people treated the ruins. One guy actually walked over a cautionary rope and sat on a stone structure which was obviously meant to be protected and restored. Marco yelled at him: good for him!
Under Marco's guidance, we explored the site for a few hours.
Finally here!
I've been waiting to take this photo since 5th grade! By far the best part of our trek. Funny how our culture prides itself on its cutting edge technology, yet these ancient cultures could seamlessly build walls at perfect 13-degree angles (the approximate tilt of the earth's axis, making them less vulnerable to collapse, Marco explained) and align structures with the sun's position at solstice without any complex modern tools. Very humbling. Our private tour with him complete, Marco left to catch his train back to Cusco. We decided that could not really benefit much more from exploring on our own: he had been that thorough. Also, we had learned our lesson during the past two days about "estimated hike times" and that any attempt of ours to climb Huayna Picchu or the Sun Gate would directly result in us missing our train back. So we got some lunch instead 😊.
Once back down in Aguas Calientes, we realized that we had a lot of time to kill, so we stopped at a restaurant for a beer. (For future notice: the Cuzquena "
medio " is actually
muy grande and probably not the smartest thing to consume after loads of hiking and a modest lunch). We watched as a tiny
orange kitten wandered its way from patron to patron at the restaurant, mewing pitifully and sneaking into jackets and bags hung on the backs of chairs. Finally, it climbed into the lap of a guy next to us who looked about our age. He didn't shoo the kitten away, so the little guy took this as permission to curl up and promptly fall asleep. The cat's bed introduced himself as Luis-Andres, and he was an entrepreneur from Columbia. We all talked for quite a while, and although he was a very cool guy, we had to be good and decline his later offer of a round of beers. Intoxicated on a bumpy train is no way to be!
Good decision. Stopping at Ollantaytambo, Poroy, and about five different track-switching locations on a hillside in Cusco, ours was one of the bumpier and less enjoyable train rides I've taken. Plus some moron kept opening all the windows, so about halfway through the trip the entire group was freezing. Argh.
No time to rest that night. A quick dinner and some repacking, and we were ready for bed. We had an early rise to make it onto the Inka Express
to Puno the following day.
Next: Hooray - we get to sit down today!
~Becky
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