After arriving by train in Aguas Calientes on Wednesday night, we got to bed early so that we could wake up at 4:30 AM in order to catch the first bus up to Machu Picchu. (I thought about hiking up but was dissuaded by our Machu Picchu guide, who stopped by our hotel on Wednesday night for our "orientation". Don't worry, we would get PLENTY of hiking in before the day was over.)
We reached Machu Picchu at dawn, before the fog cleared. I'll spare you all my attempts to describe the experience - both the city itself and the overall location can be classified as "indescribable", so hopefully the pictures can convey a small part of the experience. When we arrived, there were already quite a few people there but everyone spread out quickly and we got to explore for a while on our own before our tour.
We were up high enough that the clouds were all around:
A view looking out over the mountains as the fog begins to clear:
The ruins with only a few wisps of cloud left behind. The name of the mountain in the picture translates to "fun mountain" or "happy mountain"!
Me sitting in a hut before the tour. We were still a little chilly at this point.
We met up with our guide and group - about ten people - and had a really informative two hour tour which took us all over the site. Here's Trevor overlooking all the ruins and mountains:
Looking down at the entire site - the mountain in the background of this one is Huayna Picchu - it is popular to hike to the top for a view down on to Machu Picchu but we didn't do that hike.
Another view:
After our guided tour, Trevor and I had bought tickets to ascend Montana (Cerro) Machu Picchu. This was the higher of the two climbs (the other one being Huayna Picchu), so we set out on our way. I looked through all my pictures and realized I never took a picture of Montana Machu Picchu from the bottom. I looked on the internet to see if I could find one but apparently everyone else takes pictures facing in the other direction, too.
Passing an alpaca:
Partway up, Trevor decides to prove he's conquered his agoraphobia and stands on a rock:
There's Machu Picchu waaayyy down there:
The hike was pretty much just an hour and a half, straight up. Sometimes the stairs got so steep that it was easier to "monkey climb" on all fours.
Reaching cloud level! You can see tiny tiny Machu Picchu in the bottom left corner:
We reached the giant Inca flag at the top!!!
Looking down on Machu Picchu. Altitude: around 10,000 feet.
On the way back down - thousand foot drop-off, two feet to the left. Also, fifteen minutes prior to this, while hanging out at the top, we were told this story: "My brother-in-law, he knew a guy, hiked up somewhere high like this and got close to the edge for a picture, and then he fell off and died." Oh okay! Cool story!
Cardiovascular workout on the way up, cartilage crunching on the way down. Knees and ankles were a little wobbly by the time we reached the bottom.
Signed the book - hike completed! Note the start times - they only let people in between 7:00 and 11:00 AM to make sure everyone makes it up and back before it gets dark - we were some of the last folks to squeeze in for the day!
After this, we ate lunch and said goodbye to Machu Picchu. We headed back down to town to catch our train / bus back to Cusco. Such an exhilarating day!!
We reached Machu Picchu at dawn, before the fog cleared. I'll spare you all my attempts to describe the experience - both the city itself and the overall location can be classified as "indescribable", so hopefully the pictures can convey a small part of the experience. When we arrived, there were already quite a few people there but everyone spread out quickly and we got to explore for a while on our own before our tour.
We were up high enough that the clouds were all around:
A view looking out over the mountains as the fog begins to clear:
The ruins with only a few wisps of cloud left behind. The name of the mountain in the picture translates to "fun mountain" or "happy mountain"!
Me sitting in a hut before the tour. We were still a little chilly at this point.
We met up with our guide and group - about ten people - and had a really informative two hour tour which took us all over the site. Here's Trevor overlooking all the ruins and mountains:
Looking down at the entire site - the mountain in the background of this one is Huayna Picchu - it is popular to hike to the top for a view down on to Machu Picchu but we didn't do that hike.
Another view:
After our guided tour, Trevor and I had bought tickets to ascend Montana (Cerro) Machu Picchu. This was the higher of the two climbs (the other one being Huayna Picchu), so we set out on our way. I looked through all my pictures and realized I never took a picture of Montana Machu Picchu from the bottom. I looked on the internet to see if I could find one but apparently everyone else takes pictures facing in the other direction, too.
Passing an alpaca:
Partway up, Trevor decides to prove he's conquered his agoraphobia and stands on a rock:
There's Machu Picchu waaayyy down there:
The hike was pretty much just an hour and a half, straight up. Sometimes the stairs got so steep that it was easier to "monkey climb" on all fours.
Reaching cloud level! You can see tiny tiny Machu Picchu in the bottom left corner:
We reached the giant Inca flag at the top!!!
Looking down on Machu Picchu. Altitude: around 10,000 feet.
On the way back down - thousand foot drop-off, two feet to the left. Also, fifteen minutes prior to this, while hanging out at the top, we were told this story: "My brother-in-law, he knew a guy, hiked up somewhere high like this and got close to the edge for a picture, and then he fell off and died." Oh okay! Cool story!
Cardiovascular workout on the way up, cartilage crunching on the way down. Knees and ankles were a little wobbly by the time we reached the bottom.
Signed the book - hike completed! Note the start times - they only let people in between 7:00 and 11:00 AM to make sure everyone makes it up and back before it gets dark - we were some of the last folks to squeeze in for the day!
After this, we ate lunch and said goodbye to Machu Picchu. We headed back down to town to catch our train / bus back to Cusco. Such an exhilarating day!!
