Machu Picchu day has arrived -- and mighty early I must say! We woke up at 3:30am. We had to be out of our tents, fed, and ready to go by 4:20am.
Once we left, we only walked for about 10 or 15 minutes and then we were at the checkpoint gate. We had to wait there until it opened at 5:30am. This was on purpose. It's only a 2 hour walk from this camp to Machu Picchu. You want to get there as early as you can --for a chance to see the sunrise, and to be there before the train tourists. However, the trail is again a cliffside trail, and people were getting hurt in the past trying to walk it in the dark. So, they don't open the checkpoint until 5:30am. But you still want a good place in line, because for the first time on the trek, many tour groups have converged in one spot. Our guides were the best, and by getting us up so early, we were the second group in line at the checkpoint. Javier decided to get in a few more zzz's while we waited:
I was surprised that by setting out at a fairly quick pace, we were able to walk pretty freely and not feel jammed up on the trail with all of the other groups. I found myself walking by myself for a while, and it was only towards the end that I moved over and let some big groups pass me. So it was another peaceful trek in the early morning.
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| Don't look down! |
Towards the end of the hike there is a set of rock steps called the Gringo Killer. I wish I had taken a picture of it, but I was too busy trying to get up it! They were so steep that I had one hand on my walking stick (which wasn't doing me much good on these steps), the other hand I was using to grab the steps in front of me, and with each step the camera hanging on my neck would swing dangerously close to the rocks in front of me. I felt like spiderman. I stopped half way up and a girl from another group was going by and said "you can do it!". And I did -- eventually! But around the corner from the top of those steps was my reward!!! Well 2 rewards actually, because first Javier was waiting at the top of the steps with a hug for me. Then we walked a little and here is what I saw!
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| Machu Picchu!! We made it! |
One of the other advantages to doing the trek vs the train -- besides the feeling of accomplishment, and besides getting there before the crowd -- is that fact that we come in from the top. We got a view of the ruins all the way in that the folks who come by train never get to see.
Side note: The term Gringo Killer when applied to those steps is of course a joke -- poking fun at us tourists who aren't used to climbing mountains. However, the trail can be dangerous. I asked Javier about deaths on the trail and he said that there is an average of 2 a year. The last one to die was a tour guide -- a friend of his. The guide heard a big rock coming down the mountain. He pushed one of his hikers out of the way, but it hit him and sent him off the path and down the cliff. Javier said that you only hear helicopters if someone has died, or needs rescuing. Shortly after he told me that, we heard one. Never found out what had happened though. It makes you respect the mountains a little more-- and it's probably a good thing to remember how careful you need to be about where you put your feet, and being aware of the trail.
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| Annie taking a rest after climbing the Gringo Killer! |
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| Offerings, and wishes |
OK, now take a look at the very tall, steep mountain right behind Machu Picchu. This is Huayna Picchu. ("wine-a peechu"). Machu Picchu means old mountain, and is the name of both the mountain and the ruins. Huayna Picchu means young mountain, and if you look closely, you can see more ruins on the very top. They hand out a certain amount of tickets each day to climb Huayna Picchu. Now, if it had been a scheduled part of our trip, I would have done it --and I'm sure it would have been well worth it. But since it was optional, I was mentally "done" with climbing at that point. Nine of our group went up, and 6 of us stayed at Machu Picchu. I have no regrets, although I am very impressed by those in our group who did it. Dane #2 led the way and they said he was practically skipping up the trail. It's supposed to take 45 minutes to an hour. They did it in 25 minutes!! I was very happy to rest in the shade, get a cold soda and congratulate them when they got back. Although I did miss getting to see Dane #2 strip down to his birthday suit on the top of the mountain!
Actually the group said that it wasn't any more difficult than some of the trails that we had already done. It just looks very formidable!
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| Huanya Picchu |
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| Huayna Picchu "zoomed" in |
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| Is that a bicep I see???? |
Here are a bunch of photos taken from within the Machu Picchu ruins:
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| The Incan King's toilet! For those of you keeping track, this is the third picture of a toilet i took on my trip! |
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| Those little red flowers will apparently grow anywhere! |
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| Look closely about a third of the way down this mountain, and you can see the trail we came in on. |
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| The smart guys who opted to hang out with Annie, Kelly and I rather than climb Huayna picchu! |
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| Annie taking in the view |
After we were done exploring the ruins, we headed down the mountain on a bus to Aguas Calientes for lunch. I think the bus ride was the scariest part of the whole trip!! Switchbacks, steep cliffs, and not really room for the buses coming up to get past without us backing up every once in a while!
Lunch was where we said goodbye to our guides and got our tickets for the train ride back. The train left at 5:30, so we had some time to explore the market and the town.
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| Jake shopping for Pumas! |
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| Me and Leo |
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| Me and Renee |
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| Me, Sabrina, and Sean |
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| Me and Joe |
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| Me and Kevin and Kelly |
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| Here we are at the train station. The blue bags are what they put all our stuff in that the porters had been carrying. |
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| The Gingers! |
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| Ahhhh, we are done walking for a while! |
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| You have heard of Snakes on a Plane? This was Beers on a Train. Our group actually drank all the beer on the train and had to switch to wine. That's when I joined in! |
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| Then we hopped on a bus. A rather inebreiated, but jolly group! |
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| Same hotel, different room. |
When I got to the hotel, I had to unpack and re-pack everything. the hotel had held onto my suitcase with all of the stuff that I didn't take on the trek. I was sooooo tired after hiking for 4 days, and having gotten up at 3:30am. Unfortunately my ride to the airport was picking me up at 4:45 am. So I just slept in my clothes.
The plan was to fly out of Cusco at 6:30 am and land in Lima, then go from Lima to Miami, and Miami to Boston and land there at about midnight. I made it from Cusco to Lima with no problem, but then found out that my Lima flight was delayed by 3 hours. So I had to reschedule my Miami to Boston flight. I was now going to get in to Boston around noon the next day. Oh well. So then we get on the plane. We sit there for about an hour and they have us get off. Then they tell us that they will tell us more in another hour. Finally they say that the flight will not leave until 1am. This is a 13 hour delay!!!
One thing I learned is that they usually say everything in Spanish, and then repeat it in English. But as soon as things start going wrong, they stop translating! I kept having to say --"excuse me, what did they just say?" Luckily there were some very nice people around who could translate for me.
So now I had to re-reschedule my Miami to Boston flight. I told the lady at the counter that I would happily fly into Hartford or Providence as well as Boston. So she said that she had rescheduled me on United (instead of American) and the flight would go from Miami to Hartford. Cool!
So I slept on my backpack in the airport until we left at 1am. And I was still so tired, that I slept the whole 6 hour flight to Miami too!
Here's where things got even more interesting. I go to United and show them the paper the LAN lady had given me in Lima. they said "that's not our flight. It says 'UA'. Try US Air". So I go to US AIR and they say "that's our flight, but we don't have you on it. Try going back to American who your original flight was with" and "Oh, by the way, their counter isn't in this terminal". So I "trek" over to American. She says "i see where LAN rescheduled your flight, but they should have given you a receipt or a ticket number. I can book you on our flight to Boston, but you still have to go back to LAN and get your ticket from them". and "oh by the way, their counter isn't in this terminal". So I "trek" over to LAN, and there is nobody at the counter. Nobody. Finally somebody walks by and tells me that LAN has an office downstairs. So I go down there and there is my seatmate from my Lima flight. Apparently he is having problems too. I start telling him what I've been through and the guy behind the counter says "what's your name?". I tell him and he says "here, this is yours". He hands me a ticket for an American Airlines flight to Boston. ( At this point I do NOT ask about my United flight that I had supposedly been booked on). I go back to American, check my bags and go through security. I am early for this flight (believe it or not). So I go to a restaurant and have the biggest breakfast in the world!! (OK, it was fruit and home fries, but it was a HUGE plate of home fries and I ate them all). I am starting to feel human again. I fly to Boston and get in there about 4pm. Only 16 hours late!!
When I got home I still had one more challenge to deal with. Where the hell did my ankles go??????
OH NO, I have "cankles"!! I think it was a combination of returning from altitude and the long flights.
Luckily this only lasted until the next morning!
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| My balloon feet!! Gross! |
THE END!
