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So this was it...the big reason I came to spend time in South America between work and going back to school. I had a hard time sleeping because of the excitement. I felt like a 5 year old on Christmas Day (I think that may be the age that you realize you are getting gifts to play with).
We woke up at 3:30 (well I did, the rest of the group woke up at 3:45...I really was excited) and met up with the guide downstairs. We had a 20 minute walk to the gate to get in line for a chance to climb Wayna Picchu, which is the huge mountain you see off to the side in MP photos. Only 400 a day get to go. I was about 25 in line and then you have 1700 stairs to climb to get in the line to get the Wayna Picchu stamp. You get a 45 minute head start on the buses so you have to hustle. I have found I should enter the world speed walking championships because I cannot walk slowly. I passed a few people on the way up but mainly because I was enjoying the silence and
the darkness while I put in the exercise. I started getting to the top and could see clouds hanging around the peaks of some of the mountains. You have to understand that the area is full of moutains that are very steep and seem to shoot up out of the ground on their own. It is quite an amazing area of the world. I got to the top and come to find out I was very first in line. Sad thing was, I wasn´t making a race of it, I just cannot walk slowly. The two English guys I had met at Colca Canyon walked up and said, "How does it feel to be number one?" and I felt kind of silly because that wasn´t my intent.
So we go into the park and go with our tour guide for about an hour and a half. He explains the bigger pieces of the complex and then takes off and leaves us to explore on our own. We went in the park at 6 AM before the large amount of people show up at around 10 am. It was a beautiful day and nearly all of the clouds had disappeared
by 6:30. The quietness of Machu Picchu was exactly the way I think it should be experienced. After the tour I went up to sit on some of the terraces in solitude to just look at it. I think I probably looked like the token hippy I saw sitting on a rock doing his morning yoga while the sun came over the nearby mountains...but I just wasn´t doing the yoga.
Next I started walking around and bumped into the Wake Forest biology summer program which was pretty funny. I headed up to the Inka Bridge on the backside of the mountain. I realized that I was feeling a bit of vertigo with the fall off on the cliffs. You will die if you fall. There are no real barriers to keep you in. I returned to the main complex to go climb Wayna Picchu. But if I am stuggling with heights, this would be it.
I walk in and get to a point and start feeling sick. I was going to turn around. This is serious height, with a lot of people, no security, and just a general feeling of fear. I have only felt this type of
fear as I turned the corner climbing in Bolivia to find a 750 foot drop to death at 3:30 in the morning. Eventually some Danish folks from our group came up and I had no choice but to climb. They had no problems and scurried up but I was still struggling. So an Argentinian lady in front of me was also struggling so we talked each other up the mountain the entire way...you get to some pretty spectacular views over MP that makes it look pretty small. Then you keep climbing and you start crawling through caves that I had to take my backpack off, otherwise I could not have gotten through. Then you get to the top to see MP 400 meters above it. It is breathtaking (if you are afraid of heights because I literally could not breathe...). I was pretty terrified and I have come to accept that I am afraid of heights and was experiencing some vertigo.
I started climbing down after the token photographs and climbed down with a Dutch guy who is living in Chicago that just got married several months ago. He is working in international business so we had a good
View from Wayna Picchu
Was the climb worth the view? conversation the whole way down. Like me, he was climbing on all fours so it was nice not to feel so afraid of the climb. On the way down, there were rumors circling that someone had had a heart attack on top and it was true. As I was descending, the stretchers were being carried up. I have no idea how the Inca created the ruins on the side mountain and I am sure many died in the process.
Next I headed to the Sun Gate up the Inca trail and ran into the English guys again halfway up. We headed the rest of the way and just sat there for about thirty minutes chatting with a few other travellers and basking in the sun and the views. A group came up from behind us, about 15 or so people, and an older lady approached me as I was sitting down on the ledge. She said to me in a foreign accent, "Could you mind your head, it is in the way of my picture." I laughed and moved in a state of shock that someone would actually say that. The other guys I was with started laughing also.
I guess my bald, sunburned head isn´t that attractive afterall. So we headed back down and they took off. I spent the next hour or so on another terrace just listening to the wind and silence as I watched over the Inca ruins. Finally I headed home after nine hours at Machu Picchu.
It is everything it is made out to be. A feeling of suspense and amazement is going to hit you when you experience it. It stirred emotions in me that I have never felt and I see why it is such a special place. I highly suggest you take a visit if you have the means and the time. It is worth it.
Today I am stuck in Aguas Calientes (the typical tourist destination) with hamburgers, pizza, and United States prices. I am waiting for some laundary to get done and then I have a train to catch back to Cusco at 6:45. It has been a great 5 days experiencing Machu Picchu. I am looking to go rafting Wednesday to Friday and then spend a few days around Cusco before flying back to Charlotte next week. Should I not get on the rafting trip,
I may change my flight to get back home early because of the other travel arrangements I have getting out of Cusco. I refuse to take a 31 hour bus ride through mountains from Cusco to Lima so I have a flight I need to catch to get out.
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