Machu Picchu

We took the bus back to Ollantaytambo, ate a lot of good food and took the train to Aguas Calientes so we could go to Machu Picchu the next morning. The train ride was very fun even though people were staring and wondering who these dirty looking extremely happy people on the train were. We enjoyed another good meal in Aguas Calientes and took showers that we were very much looking forward to.

We woke up very early the next day and got to the entrance of where we could hike up to the entrance of Machu Picchu from at 4.15 am. We wanted to get a very early start and get done with the 45 minute - 1 hour hike before the buses made it to the top because only the first 400 people to get to the top would be allowed to hike up the mountain peak called Wayna Picchu. But when we got there they said the gates wouldn't open before 5 am. So we waited until the gates opened and then ran ahead to make it to the top. We were still at a high elevation with reduced oxygen levels and the hike was just climbing up a million stairs. It was very hard. Kevin Shallcross is a life saver and the best friend you can have in hard situations. After the really tiring hike we made to the top before the buses and just as the sun was coming up. It was beautiful sight in which we celebrated the fact that we would be able to go up to Wayna Picchu.

We started our hike up to Wayna Picchu at 7 am and it took us an hour and a half or 2 hours to get to the top. The weather was beautiful and this was a much more relaxed hike where we took lots of breaks for pictures and other fun stuff. Rob pretended to jump off one of the steep cliffs and if you were watching it could be frightening if you didn't know he was joking. I knew he was joking and it still didn't stop me from getting really scared and screaming out loud. The hike up was a little scary because it was steep and you had to be careful otherwise you would fall off the side of the mountain since there were no railings and not a very wide path. However, if you were careful it wasn't too bad. Some people battled their fear of heights but all of us were in awe of the beauty and how peaceful our surroundings were. We spent some time at the peak of the mountain and then started our descent. Going downwards was a little scarier than going up because the steps were very uneven. Some were big and high, other very narrow and short. I had to do the crab walk down a couple of stairs.

Going up Wayna Picchu! That windey path in the distance is what we climbed up in 45 minutes at 5 am

Taking a break on the way up for pictures

Beautiful!

Rob pretending to jump off, there is a narrow ledge that he was going to land on that you can't see unless you go really close to the edge of the mountain

Almost at the top!!

Enjoying the view at the top

Coming back down

We got to the bottom around 10 am and went over to go see the famous ruins of Machu Picchu. They were gorgeous. We went all the way to the top and met some llamas. There was a huge sundial there that some film crews broke while filming there. What a shame!

Machu Picchu!

EGL!

Girls!

By 12 pm we had seen all the wonderful things around Machu Picchu and were ready to take the bus back down. We were all starving and exhausted so got some great lunch. We got to hear some Peruvian Hombres performing a Peruvian song out in the street.

Following lunch, we went to the internet cafe to tell our parents we were safe and back to civilization following which we took trains back to Ollantaytambo and then a taxi to Cuzco. I was so tired and after some dinner got a good night sleep before catching our flight back to Lima.

We spent our second to last day in Lima shopping and exploring the night life. Our flights back home were the next evening and though everyone went shopping the day of our flights I stayed at the hostel as I had a case of food poisoning along with 2 other people. However, by the time people came back with their goodies, I was feeling much better. We watched the movie UP in our hostel, ordered in some Pizza and then took cabs to the airport. The next morning we were back in Detroit with new deep friendships and somehow changed because of this experience.

Nayana