Inca Trail, Day 4 - Machu Picchu!

---

We awoke at 4am to get an early start on machu picchu day. on previous days we had woken at 5, so this wasn{t supposed to be too terrible. well, i felt like shit. chrissy did as well after her night of 6 trips to the woods to unload gallons of liquid excrement. it is incredible that she was able to push through all 42 km of the hike feeling as terrible as she did.

anyway, we were ready by 4:45 am with some breakfast and coca tea in us. i still felt terrible, but excited to finally see our long awaited destination. they wouldnt let us leave camp until 5:30am, so we chewed some coca and the fat until then. the rest of our troupe felt similarly exhausted, sleep deprived and excited; its nice to have people feeling hte pain with you.

once the clock struck 5:30 the race was on. we set a blistering pace as we rushed to the sun gate overlooking machu picchu. everyone was trying to get there first, but we tried to be civil, so if someone was going fast, we woun{dt pass them. however these danish bastards though it was some sort of nascar race in which they had to get there 3 spots ahead of us. we were in a long line of about 20 people, so if they passed me, theyd have to pass 19 more. well, they did it anyway, earning the disdain of all of us. they got there a whole 5 seconds before us.

it was a pretty easy hike that we did fast, excluding the 20 meter climb up a nearly sheer set of stairs. but we made it and the veiw was great. we were blessed with great weather on the day, unlike on day 3, and machu picchu looked exactly as it does in all the photos youve seen. i feel thta the ruins themselves are not terribly breathtaking, it is the surrounding area. every direction you look is an incredible view. it is the setting of machu picchu that is what makes it so awesome.

we took several of the cliche postcard photos. they look great. my only disappointment was that i was too tired to listen closely to our guide{s broken english tour of the ruins. the one thing that impressed me most was the style of architecture the incas used. they made walls of stones cut so perfectly that they fit together like puzzle pieces and required no mortar. these structures have survived for hundreds of years and several massive earthquakes that are common in the andes. it is quite a testament to the incas engineering prowess. again, the photos of these walls don{t do it justice, but it is truly amazing when you see them. the stones in them must weigh hundreds of pounds each and are solid granite. how did they cut them so perfectly without strong metals like steel? i left the ruins with more questions than i had entered with.

we said goodbye to our group after a final meal together and took the long, slow, 4 hour train back to cuzco. i quickly passed out in our hostel for the first decent nigh{s sleep id had in several days. to those who arent used to it, sleeping on a mat in a tent at 3500 meters isnt as easy as it sounds. i tossed and turned each night on the trail. but now, the day after, i am well rested, though sore, and finally clean after 4 days of disgusting sweatiness on the trail. though it was tiring, it was certainly a very beautiful experience in which we got to meet wonderful fellow travellers (no pun intended) and some memories that i will never forget.

---

Photos

Beautiful Stonework in this doorway
This incan stonework is amazing. they fit the huge stones together perfectly without any mortar.

My walking stick
I don´t know what i would have done without you, friend.

Machu Picchu!
We finally made it. We had perfect weather to enjoy the absolutely amazing scenery.

Gettin Ready for the final push
Tom, Jason, and Gary (an australian we met on the trail) are awake at 5am for the 6km slog on day 4 to Machu Picchu. We made it in about an hour.

Comments

[anonymous]

wow
- peggy taves