Machu Picchu

So after 4 seriously long days of trekking we still had a bit more to reach our goal....the mighty Machu Picchu ¨the Lost City of the Incas¨.

From the nearby town of Agua Calientes, there are two ways up to the ruins of Machu Picchu - a) The easy half hour bus ride (with the first bus going up at around 5.40am); or b) the hard way, involving a 45-60 minute hike straight up from the valley floor. This method allows you to leave whenever you want in the morning in order to beat the first bus and get into Machu Picchu first when it opens at 6am. Well, we of course were the ¨winners¨ group so there was no other choice than the hike for us.

Our wake up call at 3.30am would have normally been painful, but our excitement levels were high. After a quick brekkie, we headed out into the dark at around 4.30am. The pace was brisk as we were all determined to be the first people up there. At over 2,000metres above sea level and the fact that the hike involved about 1,000 steps straight up....it was tough. For those in Vancouver...imagine the Grouse Grind, but a little steeper, but thankfully a little shorter. Despite 4 days of muscle pain, I put it aside to surge away from our group, determined to get up there first (no surprises there). Things were looking good all the way up to the 3/4 mark when I started to see a flashlight below me getting closer and closer with each step I took. Turns out it was Rob from our group. He quickly left me in his shadow as he flew past me to take the line honours. Bugger! He´s a consistent Triathaloner back in the US, so I took some solice in that, and the fact that we´d both smoked the ¨45-60 minute¨walk in just a tick over 30 minutes!! We were officially No.4 and No.5 to the peak. We found out that the 3 guys in front left a good 30 minutes before us.... so we felt pretty good about that. Lyds cruised in soon after and was also pretty stoked with her time!

As the 6am opening time arrived, our whole group had conquered the mountain, were well rested and ready to get inside. Despite the fact that it was rainy season AND our guide for the day had warned us the night before that it had been raining every morning for the past 2 weeks, we were blessed with an incredible day. As the sun began to rise we could see a tonne of blue sky determined to poke through the rising clouds.

This is when things got a bit controversial. Our guide ¨Micheal Angelo¨ (supposed real name), had told us the night before that he would be on the first bus up. No problems....except that he lied. Shame MA, shame. So there we stood, painfully at the gates as 3 busloads of lazy buggers waltzed into Machu Picchu ahead of us before our guide finally showed up on bus number 4. THEN he informed us that he was waiting for some more people to join our group before we started, so it would be a little bit longer. Grrrrrrrrr. As a couple more buses came and poured out more tourists ahead of us, old Micky Angel wisely assessed that there was some tension building up in the group and made an alternative arrangement to just meet us inside later. Wise decision mate.....so we were off.

Another short (and super fast) climb inside and we reached the ¨Watchtower¨ which gives the classic photo view of Machu Picchu. To say we were all awestruck as we stood gazing down would be an understatement. Conditions were ideal. All week I was talking about wanting a photo that wasn´t perfectly clear and sunny but had a few clouds drifting past to maintain a bit of an eery feeling....Well HELLO, I could not have scripted it better. With the sun rising through the clouds, a crisp chill in the air, the 'serenity' was amazing. Mikey was quick to coin the phrase ¨it´s impossible to take a bad photo¨ today, and he was right. As we stood there madly snapping away, the clouds cleared, the sun came out and we really got to see Machu Picchu in all its glory.

...and wouldn´t you know it, 30 minutes later when our guide finally arrived to start the tour, the clouds had come back and you could barely see the ruins....Classic. We felt a little (only a little) sad for those doing the offical Inca Tour (shorter, easier, more expensive) who generally don´t cruise into Machu Picchu until around 7.30am. By then the clouds had well and truely taken over.

The 2 hour tour we had was fantastic and very informative. MA knew his stuff and gave us lots of great little tibits of information along the way. He certainly had no love lost for the American Explorer Hiram Bingham who re-discovered Machu Picchu in 1911. Bingham ¨borrowed¨about 5,000 artifacts for Yale Uni of which very few have yet to be returned. After our tour our climbing wasn´t over yet. We headed over to the other side of the ruinds for another 30 minute climb up Hyuana Picchu. This mountain gives the opposite view of the ruins and from a greater height - Spectacular !!

By midday the rain began to roll in, we were all well and truly stuffed, tired and hungry. So after a fantastically long morning we headed back down to Aguas Calientes for a huge buffet lunch, some well deserved bevvies and a little rest before our train ride back to Cuzco. Overall an amazing climax to what was no doubt the highlight of our 9 months of travelling to date.

Here is an album of our trip to Machu Picchu.

If you can´t see them properly than click on the link here - Machu Picchu