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Published: October 4th 2007
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Machu Picchu was everything I´d hoped it would be. I was aware that maybe over the years I´d built it up, but it was exactly how I imagined! We woke up early and had breakfast and ran over to the bus station to catch the first bus (at 5.30am). There was a huge line already, but they have so many buses that we were on our way by 5.36am. It takes about 10-15 minutes to get up the mountain via switchbacks, and then we were there! The plan was to see the sunrise from Machu Picchu, but it was a bit overcast, so the sunrise wasn´t as impressive as you might hope. But the view more than made up for it. The inca city is so vast! It sits perfectly on top of this amazing mountain, with steep cliffs on all sides.
We took as many photos as we could, and then the four of us (Jamie, me and our two trekking companions - Peter and Martin) made our way straight through the city to Huayna Picchu - the ´young´mountain that you can see in all the classic photos of Machu Picchu. There are more ruins on Huayna Picchu and
we were told that the view out over Machu Picchu would be amazing. They only let 400 people a day go up (200 in the morning, 200 in the afternoon) so we wanted to be there when the control gate opened at 7am. Jamie and I were numbers 26 and 27!
The hike up Huayna Picchu is really hard. It takes about 45-60 minutes, and it´s very steep. But our guide was right, the view was incredible. By the time we got to the top we were hot and sweaty but so so happy and excited. The city of Machu Picchu is actually in the shape of a condor, which you can really only see from Huayna Picchu (and only if you kind of squint your eyes). The view from the top also gives you an amazing perspective - sheer cliffs on all sides...honestly, if the Spanish had wanted to invade Machu Picchu, they would have been exhausted by the time they got there!
Our guide had recommended that we take the alternative route down, via the ´Grande Cave´. It was a hard walk down - so many steps, and so steep! There were very narrow paths and
occasional log ladders, which were lots of fun. We made it to the Grande Cave, had a look around and then started the very long journey back to Macchu Picchu. We had arranged to meet our guide at 9am, but we didn´t get back until 11am...our guide had been waiting 2 hours, and when we finally saw him, we all just collapsed on the grass, ate some lunch and fell asleep.
After our little siesta we had a tour around Machu Picchu - it was so interesting. The city itself is so impressive, but even more so when you stop and think that they made it so long ago, without the benefit of the machines and equipment we have these days. We visited the Temple of the Sun, the 3 ventanas, all the usual buildings. Jay tried to pet a llama and almost got a kick...
About 2pm we caught the bus back to Aguas Calientes and sat in a nice cafe drinking Coke and beer and celebrating our amazing trek! We all agreed it was the highlight of our trip so far. We caught the train back to Cusco at 5.30...the longest train journey EVER! After about
3 hours, the train stopped at a station, and almost everyone piled out...we were a bit confused until we found out that at this station you can catch a bus to Cusco and be there in 15 minutes - if you stay on the train it takes an extra hour. Unfortunately by the time we got this information and grabbed our packs, all the buses were full and we had to hop back on the train. Oh well. It was still quite the ride. We got to Cusco fairly quickly, but then the train has to make it´s way down a series of switchbacks, and that takes about half an hour. So you can look out the window while you go back and forward and see the city all lit up...very pretty, if not a little bit frustrating - at one point we all thought about jumping off the train and running down the hill...it seemed like a much faster option. But the dodgy neighbourhood made us think twice, and we eventually made it back to Cusco.
Seriously, this is the best thing we´ve done in Peru so far. There have been so many amazing experiences, but walking to
Machu Picchu definately tops the list! Jamie and I will come back one day and try the Inca trail (just to compare), but I can´t imagine that it could be any better than our Salkantay trek!
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