Macho Machu Picchu

Sorry this post is a little late, but we have been having too much fun in Cusco to write about our time in Machu Picchu! It started with a train ride on the Inca Rail which might be one of the nicest trains I've ever been on. It wound its way through the mountains and even past the starting point of the Incan Trail.

Bridge at the start of the Incan Trail

When we arrived in Aguas Calientes we did the hike to bury 7's bottle. Fast forward to 5:13 am the next morning. We woke up and got ready and stuffed ourselves with as much bread, eggs, and bananas as we could before heading out on the hike to Machu Picchu. Unlike all the other tourists, we wanted to "earn" Machu Picchu, so we hiked up the mountainside starting at 6 am.

Barrett on the floating Incan Steps on the trail to Machu Picchu

Trillion herding Alpacas on the way to the Huaynu Picchu Trail Head

When we got to the top and made it into the ruins, we headed straight for Huayna Picchu, which I cannot recommend enough. They only allow 400 on the hike per day, 200 hundred in the first group from 7-8am and 200 hundred in the second group from 10-11am. It was nice being in the first group because lots of the intense hike was in the shade. They have you sign in a book on your way in, and sign out when you leave, I guess to make sure everyone survives the trail? Anyways, the views from the top of the Huaynu Picchu were gorgeous! We got 360 degree views of the surrounding mountainside.

 We then opted to take a two hour longer route back that went down to some Incan Caverns and some other ruins along the way. After asking the guy who is posted down there to make sure nobody tries to do anything stupid, we determined that less then 10% of the Huaynu Picchu hikers decide to take this route. It was lots of extra steps, but why not see as much as possible in this once in a lifetime trip?

When we finally got back to the main ruins, it was about noon and we were hungry for a snack. We tried to find a shady spot off the beaten track since technically you're not supposed to have food or water in the ruins (though no one checks your bags). Unfortunately, the alpacas wouldn't leave us alone as soon as they knew we had food so we had to find a more remote area.

We ended up snacking in the shade up at the top of the ruins near the Incan Bridge trail. After our quick lunch, we hiked to the Incan Bridge which had some terrifyingly sheer drop offs on the side in areas and no guard rails to keep you from the abyss. We then hiked to the Sun Gate which is where Incan Trail hikers get their first view of the ruins. It was a further hike than we thought it would be, but still pretty neat. By this time we realized we had not really walked through much of the main ruins and since they were emptying out quickly (it was around 3pm), we decided to get a tour guide to take us around. It worked out perfect because the sun was setting and we had basically avoided the heat of the day and the crowds by doing everything else first. Our excellent tour guide, Felix, really made the ruins mean more than they would have if we had just wandered around ourselves. I also found out he works there for 15 days and then goes home to Cusco for 3 days and then starts the process all over again. Once again, I'm astounded by how hard Peruvians work!

We were exhausted by the time the park ushers herded us out around 5pm, but when we saw that it was $10 for the bus to take us down the mountain, we decided to completely murder our knees and walk down instead. By the time we got back to our hostel it was dark and around 6:30. We had spent a little over 12 hours hiking and getting as much out of our Machu Picchu experience as possible. While an exhausting day, it is one we will always remember.

PS. we did this whole day with 3 water bottles between the two of us. We were VERY thirsty by the time we got back to our hostel. You better believe we chugged a two liter bottle of water when we got back!