Machu Picchu

We got up today at 3:50am and got our backpacks together for our hike up Machu Picchu!

Carla was having more stomach troubles but this time from the other end... yuck.

We all ate bananas and bread and waited for Carla. It was already 5am and we had to get going! We finally pushed Carla out the door at 5:15am. It was drizzling so we had our train jackets and ponchos but eventually it got so warm we ditched the rain coats early on.

It was still dark but we were on our way from the valley to the top of the mountain.

There were buses that take people up to Machu Picchu but we decided to hike it... It was tough! It was mainly uneven rock stairs all the way up. The poor girls in my group were so sick so they left presents for the Inca gods to find later on the trail... TMI? Oh well, it was funny to me.

We were really splitting up while hiking up the mountain from the valley. Sam and I were always first and Mindee and Carla were last. Sam and I were just so anxious to see Machu Picchu that we were getting a little frustrated so we just went ahead and waited for them at the entrance.

But after about an hour, hour and a half we got to the entrance of the park. Right outside the entrance was so touristy. There was a restaurant playing club music (at 7am) and you had to pay a sol to use the bathroom.

It was still drizzling and cloudy and we were just praying for it to clear up. Seeing Machu Picchu for the first time was amazing. It's no wonder the Spanish conquerors never find it. It's high up and the ruins are surrounded by beautiful mountains.

It drizzled on and off basically all day but it was so warm we didn't even use our ponchos, we only used them to keep our backpacks dry.

We got to walk around all the ruins and see the sights, it was unfortunately cloudy so we couldn't see very far beyond the ruins but it was still beautiful.

We bought the ticket for Machu Picchu park entrance and entrance to hike Machu Picchu mountain so after a couple of hours exploring the ruins we headed over to the mountain a bit after 9.

However, we got a little distracted because THERE WERE LLAMAS EVERYWHERE! They were waking in the walkways and hanging out in the grass if the terraces eating.

So obviously, we had to take some selfies with the cute llamas. We were having was to much fun with it too... Especially Sam.

We got to Machu Picchu mountain at 10 and started up. We read on a blog that this mountain was less steep and less rocky than the other one... I could NOT imagine how anything could be rockier or steeper.

It was such a hard trail and it was straight up to 3,082 meters altitude. The trail had a lot of narrow steps with a rock wall on one side and a straight cliff on the other. Other parts were really jungley.

I just want to say, it was HARD. Everyone else was hanging back again so Sam and I went ahead. It took us an hour and 25 minutes with CONSTANT rock stairs to get to the top... My ass, thighs and calves are gonna kill me tomorrow. A lot of the stairs were really high and some were wobbly which really made us feel really great when we were 4 inches from falling of the cliff...

The people walking down were mostly great supporters telling us how much farther we had. But one group of guys, apparently just having Machu Picchu as a final hike for their week-long hike-fest of Peru, told us how hard and scary it got and how we had two hours left... Thanks guys.

We took lots of breaks in which we caught our breaths pretty quickly but then huffed and puffed by the next 20 stairs. The altitude didn't help one bit.

Finally, we saw a little hut at the top of the mountain surrounded by clouds.

WE MADE IT!

We were exhausted! We sat down on the bench with some of the other victors of that day. We meet a cute guy from California and another one from Barcelona. Oh how I miss their "th" accents in Spain...

About 10 minutes later Carla and Mindee finished the hike then Sheridan and Christina 2 minutes later. Once everyone was all there and got some snacks, we went over to the Machu Picchu mountain sign to take a celebratory group picture. It was unfortunately so cloudy that you could barely see anything. We were literally in the middle of the clouds. It was a good picture though.

We waited until noon then started back down. It only took us about an hour to get down and it was so much easier, just a but dangerous because of the slippery rocks.

But on the way down we heard a murderous scream ahead of us from a girl... Not a good sign. So we headed down to catch up to it and apparently a rock broke under a girl's foot and she fell off the trail. It was on a hill but luckily a tree caught her fall. It was actually her friend who screamed.

When we checked on them they were sitting in the stairs recuperating and the friend got so scared that she started crying.

I could not imagine. I'm not afraid of heights but some of that hike really freaked me out. It would have been terrifying to lose my step.

We meet so many people from all over the world on our way up and down. We meet people from Canada, USA, Spain, Belgium and China.

The visitors were also so diverse. There were school trips in Machu Picchu and also old couples. We were taking about that yesterday; we felt like you had to hike up to Machu Picchu to really deserve it. But after seeing all these old people, we realized there's no way they could have done that hike up from the valley and they've probably never been to Machu Picchu. It's great that they have the buses for those people, everyone else is just lazy.

Although, hiking all the way from the valley and Aguas Calientes to the peak of Machu Picchu Mountain was REALLY tough.

The clouds finally parted so we got some great shots of the ruins and the mountains. Then it was time to head back down to the valley to catch our Peru Rail back to Cuzco.

The trek down from Machu Picchu was definitely tough. Our legs were wobbly and my feet hurt so bad from walking down the stairs.

We were excited to see Aguas Calientes finally but it was 3 and we had to get our extra stuff we kept in the hostel and get a quick lunch. We headed for the train and stopped to get something to eat. We grabbed some burritos and ran to our train, luckily we got on just in time.

Man, my shoulders were so sore from carrying my backpack already. And the bug bites on my legs hurt! They definitely couldn't be mosquito bus because they're bright red, blotchy and painful. I'm hoping they go away soon. I think I got them in Cusco/Aguas Calientes.

Our amigo, Fabrizio wasn't on the train this time :/ the train was also so much more packed than going from Cusco to Aguas Calientes.

Sam and I sat together. We went through our phones and told stories of our pictures and videos... I found tons of funny and embarrassing photos and videos of me and my friends... Cough cough Lindsay Kendall.

Sorry not sorry.

I also learned that Sam takes way too many weird selfies. Well, not way too much, just enough.

We reserved the same Cusco hostel we stayed in before, took (cold) showers and packed up for our 5:45am taxi ride tomorrow morning for our flight to Lima then Buenos Aires.

I didn't go to bed until 10:15!!!! That's the latest I've gone to bed since Lima!

We were all just so exhausted and we knew we are gonna be so sore tomorrow.

Back to Buenos Aires! I loved Peru, definitely wouldn't want to live here, but is a great vacation spot... If you could call our trip a vacation.