Machu Picchu

The Inka Trail and Machu Picchu are two of the most amazing things I have ever experience. It´s spiritual. It´s beautiful. It´s mysterious. It´s beyond words. A Life Long Memory.

Amy, Michelle, Rachel and I decided to do the two day one night trek to Machu Picchu. So early Friday morning we hooked up with our guide Nélida (btw if you ever want to do the Inka Trail I definitely recommend Llama Path and our guide. She was brilliant.) and took off from Cusco stopping three hours later at kilometer marker 106 to start our hike. Nélida warned us that the first half of our day would be grueling. Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into...

Michelle and Amy crossing the bridge just moments after disembarking from our train.

The start of our hike - if you look closely you will see four figures on the bridge... that´s us.

Inka ruins at the start of our trip.

We started our ascent upwards. Michelle and I, being the nerds that we are, starting singing and dancing (a little bit) to We´re Off to See the Wizard. It was a magical moment, really it was, but Nélida quickly silenced us with her broken english, ¨Maybe you don´t talk right now because you be tired later. After lunch we sing and dance.¨ Oh boy, are we running a marathon here? Conserve your energy? Don´t jump and holler at the starting line? You´ll need you´re energy to finish the race? Yikes! So the four of us put our heads down and started trudging upwards. I don´t think I ever knew what hiking was until I met the Inka Trail. Hard does not even begin to describe it. Yet, this was probably my favorite part of the Trail. The pure challenge of it was exhilarating.

After finishing the morning portion of the Inka Trail 1 hour and 15 minutes ahead of schedule, we stopped in Wiñay Wayna (Quechua for Forever Young... try to get Michlle and I to stop singing that!) for lunch. Please note that I am absolutely covered in sweat and the workout was so intense I could barely eat a thing.

Ruins at Wiñay Wayna.

The four of us looking spectacular with our walking sticks.

Looking through a window at Wiñay Wayna.

Stuck in a window.

Michelle running away from the rest of the group.

Wíñay Wayna included a religious sector meaning that the Inkas had to shower off to purify themselves before entering the area. This is one of the showers.

The notches in the sides of the walls were used for wooden beams to support the roof.

Luckily the afternoon portion of our hike was easy going - mostly flat terrain with a few non-threatening up downs. A few hours into our hike, Nélida asked us to close our eyes and hold hands. She then guided us to a look out point (successfully... no one fell of the cliff) where we saw Machu Picchu for the first time.

My first glimpse of Machu Picchu (the light green area to the left of the photo).

Michelle focused on taking a photo.

Another photo of me in front of Machu Picchu. I really just like this picture because it looks like I have a stick for an arm. It´s my pirate Heather look. ;-)

A photo of us at the Sun Gate (Intipunku) where we had our first glimpse of Machu Picchu.

Then it was back on the trail to make it to Machu Picchu before closing time.

We encountered some llamas on the way.

Amy thought about taking a couple of them home. She picked out these two.

The Inkas used llamas for a variety of reasons - food, clothing... and sacrifices. Since Amy was unable to capture the llamas she wanted to take home, we had to sacrifice Michelle instead at this conveniently located llama sacrificing alter (seriously that is what it is). Thanks, Michelle, for taking one for the team.

And then we reached it... Machu Picchu.

Machu Picchu archaeological site is located on the light green terrain. Huayna Picchu is the mountain located to the right of the photo.

My rain poncho really posed for this photo. I just love the way it flows.

The entrance into Machu Picchu.

THE shot. Machu Picchu is in the forefront with Huayna Picchu in the back. The mountains keep rising in the background but the clouds were so dense you can´t see them above the cloud line.

Posing in front of Machu Picchu donning my fancy poncho and ever useful walking stick.

The four of us. We made it!

Love this photo.

Another money shot.

Heading back down. This photo puts into perspective how large the site really is.

We went back to Aguas Calientes that night exhausted but completely satisfied. We got to see Machu Picchu with hardly any other tourists on the site. Absolutely amazing. The next morning we were scheduled to rise and shine at 4am to catch a bus back to Machu Picchu for a more in depth tour. We slept like rocks.

Rachel, Amy, me and Michelle waiting for our bus.

Amy and I decided to entertain everyone with a little song in Quechua. Oh yes, it was fabulous. Too bad we couldn´t remember more than two lines of the song.

And then we were back at Machu Picchu. Here´s a quick video of just a small portion of the archaeological site.

On day two the clouds rolled in. It was eerie and beautiful to look off the cliffs and see nothing but white.

View from a window.

The clouds. Sometimes it was difficult to even see a few hundred meters ahead.

Trying to entertain by showing off our multi-lingual skills... because there´s just not enough to do at Machu Picchu. I wish I could say Nélida put us up to this but it was probably our idea, not gonna lie. Michelle is saying ¨hi¨ in Frech; Rachel Spanish; me Quechua; and Amy Mandarin.

City in the Clouds.

The Inka´s architectural model of the site. The lump to the left is suppose to symbolize Huayna Picchu which is the mountain usually depicted behind Machu Picchu in photos.

Intihuantant - this stone shows the position of the sun during the solstices. It´s also suppose to have power that might just rub off on anyone who place their hands near the stone. We thought it was worth a try.

More clouds.

View through a window.

One last look at the site.

After we were done with Machu Picchu we had just enough time to hike Huayna Picchu, the mountain behind Machu Picchu.

Michelle, Amy and Rachel at the begining of the hike.

At the top of Huayna Picchu. This is a different, less popular view of Machu Picchu that wasn´t any less spectacular. We were fortunate enough to get to the top during a break in the clouds. Five minutes later all that could be seen from this point was the whiteness of dense clouds.

After we reached the pinnacle it began raining, we carefully made our way down, back to Aguas Calientes and ultimately back to Cusco. This was an unbelievable journey that everyone should see at least once in their life. This is the beauty of Peru. I am forever grateful.