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We woke up extremely early this morning for undoubtedly the highlight of any trip to Peru and the reason why everyone booked this tour, Machu Picchu! Wake up call was around 4:30am as Rivelino wanted to make sure that we got in good position for the buses that would take us up to Machu Picchu. We arrived in town at around 6:00am and there was already a long line for the buses. The surrounding mountains were shrouded in fog and as we were making our way up the switchbacks to Machu Picchu, we literally could not see a thing. Arriving at the top, we were assured by Rivelino that in due time, the fog would lift and the Machu Picchu ruins would magically reveal itself. Despite the early hour, Machu Picchu was already bustling with tourists. Rivelino tried to find a relatively isolated spot away from the throngs of tourists to begin his guided tour. So as with most guided tours, I tend to slowly tune out and just admire my surroundings. The same applied here at Machu Picchu as my attention on what Rivelino was saying quickly dissapated. As the tour went on, the fog thankfully started to lift. Patches
of blue sky started to show itself as well as some of the surrounding peaks. I'm sure Rivelino was providing us with some great information about the ruins and about the Inca empire. However, for the remainder of the tour, I was just content with soaking up my surroundings and I really had no idea what was being said. Our guided tour brought us to a point where Kevin would leave the tour to hike up to Wayna Picchu. Prior to leaving for Peru, we had gone on-line to obtain the required permits to hike to the top of Wayna Picchu. For some reason, Kevin was the only one to have received a permit, leaving me out in the cold. The hike was described as highly strenuous and not for anyone with a fear of heights. Looking up at Wayna Picchu, it was probably for the better that I didn't get a permit. Based on my experience yesterday trying to hike up to Putucusi, there's likely no way that I would have been able to complete the hike to the top of Wayna Picchu. With Kevin off to conquer Wayna Picchu, Rivelino continued on with our tour of Machu Picchu.
When the tour finally ended, Rivelino brought us to a spot where we would be able to take the obligatory photos of ourselves with the iconic view of Machu Picchu in the background. We had the rest of the day to just explore the ruins at our leisure but before hand, Nin and I wanted to relax on the grassy lawn and just admire the views. We were told beforehand that they strictly enforced their rules prohibiting food and drink here at Machu Picchu. While sitting on the grassy lawn with Nin, I thought that I would be fine with just pulling out a quick snack from my backpack. Almost immediately, I heard a whistle being blown. I looked around and one of the workers was clearly trying to inform me that they had seen me. Fearing that they might kick me out, Nin and I got up and left and tried to hide ourselves amongst the throngs of people. We see a few local llamas who roam Machu Picchu and followed them around for a bit. Eventually, we run into the Australians Robert and Jessica and I decided to join them on their hike over to the Inca Bridge.
Hiking through lush cloud forest vegetation, the humidity and altitude started to take a bit of a toll on me. Finally arriving at the Inca Bridge, it was an extremely narrow path carved into the side of a mountain. Clearly, this would be far too dangerous for anyone and crossing this path was prohibited. We turned around and hiked back to the Machu Picchu ruins and we came across a mother llama and her young. Following the 2 llamas around for a bit, it seemed as if even the llamas were enjoying the views of Machu Picchu. I sat there for a little while enjoying the llamas and enjoying my last views of Machu Picchu. Making my way towards the exit, I got my passport stamped with a special Machu Picchu stamp and tried to find my friend Kevin. It didn't take very long to find him as he was laying on the grass obviously exhausted from his hike up to Wayna Picchu. I wanted to take the bus back down to Aguas Calientes in order to grab some lunch. However, Kevin wanted me to go with him back up to the ruins to take some photos of himself in
a few action poses. I was too tired from the heat, humidity, and early wake up call so I declined to join him. Instead I just chose to wait for him outside the exit as he went off to take his photos. In about a half hour, he returned and looked horrible. Drenched with sweat, he was looking exhausted and pale. We got on the bus to take us down the mountain and went in search for lunch. Settling for a small pizza place, we ordered lunch and Kevin proceeded to complain about being nauseous and dizzy. He went into the bathroom to vomit and we he came out he was in tears. To me, he was obviously suffering from a combination of altitude sickness and heat exhaustion. As we waited for our food, I went to a nearby store to get him some Gatorade to hopefully help him out. Resting there at the restaurant for the next hour, he slowly recharged and started to fell better. Eventually, we made our way back to the meeting point where Rivelino lead us to the train station for our train ride back to Ollantaytambo and the loan van ride back to Cuzco.
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