The Big Day - Machu Picchu - Nature Girl - Day 5...

The day finally arrived! We were up at the crack of dawn - 4 a.m., with breakfast at 4:30 a.m.! We said goodbye to Martin, the best cook ever, and we were trekking by 5 a.m.!

Holy mother of goodness - we were on the stairway to heaven to get to the Machu Picchu site! Yes, of course, there are buses that go up the hill from Aguas Calientes to the entrace of the site, but we had walked all that way, it would have been like giving up to take the bus. Up, up and up...it was really hard and I stuggled to get up that hill. When we arrived at the site around 6 a.m., the clouds were still out and you couldn´t really see anything. We stopped moving and it was cold because we were all wet from sweatin´our booties off! Jaime gave us a tour of the temple of the 3 windows, the sundial, the agricultural terraces and the quarry. The architecture of the rocks was amazing, smooth and symmetrical. Hiram Bingham is credited with discovering Machu Picchu, but that is not really the case. Locals here knew about it before he arrived and they guided him to the ruins. The clouds started to clear and we started to get a bit more perspective on the magnitude of the site. According to Jaime, Inca means "the king" and the people are Quechuan because their language is Quechua, but over time this has changed and reference to the Incas means "the people". It was time to say goodbye to Jaime...big boo! He was a great guide. We had a lot of fun with him.

Soo....there´s this mountain, you may have seen it on a post card or poster, called Huayna (or Wayna) Picchu (translation - young peak) . Huayna Picchu is the mountain that rises above the ruins, about 1,200 feet. Well, we decided we were going to climb it. We´ve come all this way...keep going! This little mountain was a beast! I thought coming up from Aguas Calientes was bad - this was worse! Parts of the hike were so steep, we had to pull ourselves up on cables - we were almost rock climbing in some parts. It takes about 1 hour to get to the top. Apparently, the record is 10 minutes which I just can not phathom. Well, finally, we made it! The trek up Huayna Pichhu was worth it. We took in amazing views of Machu Picchu and the surrounding Andes mountains. I know that I would not have been satisfied had I not reached the top of Huayna Picchu.

Now, time to go down Huayna Piccu! It was faster, but really steep. We ate lunch and explored more of the grounds. The llamas that were grazing the terraces were a favorite of mine.

We left the site around 2 p.m. and walked back down those dreadful stairs to Aguas Calientes. I was almost running down because running felt better on my knees. Boy oh boy, I was tired. When we got back to town, we had to wait for our 5:30 train to Ollantaytambo. We hung out, had an awful mojito, a beer and an overpriced dinner where they tack on 20% tip without telling you.

We took a 1 1/2 hour train ride to Ollantaytambo and then a bus was waiting for us and we had a 2 plus hour ride back to Cusco. We arrived at the hostel and I was dead tired. Hot shower, anti-itch cream for my bites and I was asleep. What an amazing day - once in a lifetime!!!!