Machu Picchu - The Inca City

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The trekking to Machu Pichu took me to Aguas calientes (a obligatory stop for everybody).

I arrived on the 18th at arround 17:45 at the train station, where the new guide was expecting us. Leo showed us our accommodation, this last night we stayed at a hostel not in tents. We had 30 minutes to take the first shower in 3 days and meet the rest of the group for diner.

After diner I walked around town, which is not big, and saw the surroundings. This little town atmosphere, feeling and lookings can be compare to Baños or Montañita in Ecuador, Mancora in Peru, Yangshuo in China, Koh-Tao in Thailand.
Around 10pm and 2 Pisco Sours later went to my room - a big and exhausting day was expecting me very early in the morning. I decided to walk and go up the steps to Machu Pichu and not to take the bus.

On the 19th after 5 hours of sleep, woke up at 3:45 am to meet the group at 4:15 to initiate our walk up the hill to Machu Picchu. The Bridge separating the town and the hill opens at 5 am, where people stand in line. Might have been in the first 20 to cross the bridge, where the around 3000 steps path begins. Was hard to get up fast, the oxygen at 3000 masl is low plus the humidity of the mountain makes it warmer to the point of sweating like if you where at the beach under 40*C. After walking so much my knee was hurting, specially going down the hills load the knees badly.

Got to the top like 10 minutes before 6, time at which they open the gates. We got there even sooner than the buses so were standing in line for the second time so early in the morning. As we entered the guide took us in a strategic way, so that we got into places not crowded walking around against the flow of other groups.

Machu Pichu is unbelievable - the Incas were amazing people. The civilization was so developed for the time, they built the city up in the mountain to sustain itself without going down. They built water systems, different walls for different status, walls which "bricks" perfectly fitted together, shadows would create forms, indicate farming seasons, show astronomic figures... for more details you will have to go yourself! Otherwise it would be like me telling you the end of a movie...
Views are beautiful from up there.

After some hours there just staring and enjoying Machu Picchu, I went back down to town to catch the train and then bus back to Cuzco, where I left my backpack and had already booked a overnight bus, crossing the bolivian border, to La Paz...

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Photos

Peruvian Train
... which is actually not Peruvian but English

Different wall types
the differentiation has a meaning, like importance of the construcion or status from the person using/living in them

Sun Temple
Incas suit their constructions to the nature and circumstances

Inca Walls
Light slope in the walls so they support each other in cases of earthquakes

Constructing Machu Picchu
from such stones was the city builed