Macchu Picchu at Dawn

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I had made plans to travel to Peru for my summer vacation, and as I was going alone, my mother asked if she might join me so she could see Macchu Picchu. After hearing numerous others experiences of traveling with their parents as adults, I figured that it could only enhance the journey. So after picking her up at the airport in Lima, we set out on a condensed version of the southern Gringo Trail, with our advetures leading us through Nazca, Arequipa, Puno and finally Cuzco on the way to Macchu Picchu. We had arranged two days at the archaeological site. The first day proved a bit onerous as the suffocating heat and the pressure from the tour groups left a sour impression in our minds. The next morning we woke early for admission as soon as the site opened. With us were no more than 20 other tourists and we enjoyed the site by ourselves. Eager to get a different view I climbed up the adjacent mountain, Waynu Picchu, while my mother waited below. At the top I found a group of photographers among other travelers, who had been waiting all morning for the clouds to break above the site allowing a view down. As luck would have it, the clouds broke almost as soon as I got up there and I sat on the highest part of the mountain with my legs hanging straight down a 40 feet cliff and watched Macchu Picchu from a different perspective than most.

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