Macchu Picchu

After spending the night in Aguas Calientes in a nice soft bed... we started our journey to Macchu Picchu at 4:00am in order arrive before most of the other tourists. We were on the 3rd bus to Macchu Picchu, so it payed off to be an early riser! As the bus drove up the very winding roads leading to Macchu Picchu, the excitement on the bus could be felt. I have seen hundreds of photographs and t.v shows about the ruins and lost Incan city, but being there in person was nothing other than magical. Were the Incan´s aliens?, magicians? Seems impossible to build structures of that magnitude without modern machinery.

There is another mountain called Huyana Picchu that you can climb to get a great view of Macchu Picchu, it is extremely steep and only the first 400 people can get permits to climb for the day. I had originally decided (due to the pain in my knee) that I would not do the climb... but a few advil´s later and some encouraging words, Paz and I decided that we would do it together. (no matter how long it took) After our tour of Macchu Picchu was completed we started the climb. It took me about 60 mins, and Andrew and the rest completed it in 25mins. They really weren´t kidding when the sign to the mountain said "Must be in good general health". The path was steep and at some points we had to be on all fours.
On our way down Huayana Picchu we ran into Puma, who informed us that our train had been changed to an early departure time. That meant that we needed to "RUN" out of Huayana Picchu and through Macchu Picchu to get the bus on time.

Arriving back to Cusco:
A trip wouldn´t be a trip without a little drama. We had a minor delay as we waited for our private bus to pick us up, but luckily we arrived back in Cusco in good time!

The family and Puma met for one last dinner together, after some food and a few drinks it was time to say goodbye!

~Nicola