We saw Machu Picchu!

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We made it up here after all last night, and go to see Machu Picchu this morning.

Yesterday we got up at 4 to race to the train station and figure out our tickets. After several miscommunications the day before, turns out we were in the clear the whole time with our reserved tickets. If anyone reading this goes to Machu Picchu, I highly recommend buying tickets beforehand on Perurail.com. We took the very scenic 4 hour ride from Cusco to Aguas Calientes and hunted down a hostel to stay the night. With a few new Spanish words, we found a place with hot water for relatively cheap. Unbeknownst to us until later that night, the water was also coming from the ceiling. Several drips fell down the entire night, flooding our bed (mild exaggeration). You get what you pay for I guess.

The town is very small and bright with tons of restaurants. We went to the 'famous' hot springs before dinner only to find them either filled with screaming, splashing children (some of which were naked) or incredibly smelly. Not exactly the relaxing experience we hoped. Dinner was good, we tried the Pisco Sour drink that Peru is famous for, and were both not impressed. We then took a trail hike that Lonely Planet suggested, which was beautiful, but eventually came to several giant ladders straight up the rockface, at least 70 feet. Tyler was brave and went up while I stayed down, but he came back once he saw there were just more ladders to the top!

Early bedtime and up again at 4 today! We bought tickets to Machu Picchu and the bus up there yesterday so we were prepared to leave on the first bus! There were a ton of people there and mass chaos, but we got on the second bus and were up and into the park for Machu Picchu around 6 AM when it opened.

Based on our guide book, we raced up a huge staircase to get the famous "postcard picture" overlooking the ruins in their entirety. It was amazing. There simply aren't really words to describe how grand and expansive the ruins are. Tyler says they're majestic. And they are! It was particularly special because we only saw about two other people the whole time we were there in the beginning at the top. http://www.iho-ohi.org/wp-content/machu-picchu-peru.jpg

There were also lots of llamas and baby llamas who weren't scared of us that early in the morning. The sun and fog lit everything gorgeously. We then took a (terrifying) hike alongside the mountain to see the Inca Bridge which you can see here: http://www.delange.org/MachuPicchu4/IncaBridge2.jpg . The bridge itself is closed because someone died a few years ago, but it was still awesome to see. I was even un-chicken and walked along the cliff where it was so narrow they had a rope attached to the side for you to hold. For my family; I don't think Dad would have made it!! Anyways, we had the whole trail to ourselves until we walked back and it was very special.

We then explored the rest of the ruins, seeing what some said were chinchillas (I haven't investigated the truth of that) but looked like jackrabbits, lizards, llamas, and lots of birds and butterflies. There were a ton of gorgeous flowers growing everywhere as well. The ruins were exciting to explore and I fit perfectly through all the doors and into the little caves 😊 We didn't get a chance to climb one of the mountains within the ruins, Waynu Picchu I think. We misunderstood how to get the tickets; they only let 400 people go up a day. We liked what we ended up doing alone better, but we both want to.. next time!

There was a ton of terracing everywhere you looked which was pretty and impressive. The geometry and symmetry were astonishing in the buildings. Aqueducts ran everywhere as well. Anyways, it's hard to describe, but so worth the nervewracking bus ride to get there up the mountain 😊 We left after about 5 hours around 11:30 when the day trip tourists came in droves and it got really hot. Absolutely perfect, and I'm so glad we spent the night here to get there early! The museum about the ruins ended up being relatively expensive *and very dinky looking* instead of free and interesting as our guidebook suggested, so we skipped that.

We took a ton of pictures to share later, but here are some cool shots & information if anyone is interested:

http://www.delange.org/MachuPicchu4/MachuPicchu4.htm

This is actually the last time we'll have internet for a few days when we'll be in the jungle, as previously mentioned. We just had some time to kill before our train ride back to Cusco tonight, and then on to Puerto Maldonado! Wish us luck & that we see exotic animals. We miss you all! Steff and Tyler

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