Day 4: Rapidly throwing on my walking shoes and stuffing my day’s provisions in my backpack at 5:29am, scrambling down the stairway and running up the hill, I arrived at the group’s designated meeting place by 5:36am. Everyone was already there.. I felt so guilty for being the late one.
We started our walk immediately in the dark, passing the line of persons waiting to buy their tickets for the bus to drive up to Machu Pichu. What would be for us 1.5 hours of hiking up a very steep mountain, was a mere 25 minutes for those in bus.
As we hiked, we would cross the bus’s path hopping across the road to continue up the steps. This was extremely challenging, as I still had my swollen ankle, the altitude made it very difficult to breathe and, well, let’s face it, I’m not as in shape as I’d like to admit… I would stop and take pictures of the beautiful surrounding scenery to allow myself a few moments to catch my breath… and continued to have “awe” moments as I reminded myself of what lies ahead, up that mountain, and a few more (or 40) minutes…
Once finally to the top, and all of us finally through the entrance to Machu Pichu, Chavo led us to our designated beginning point of the tour. He informed us of the history, the culture, and the purpose (believed to be) of Machu Pichu for the Inkan people. With the amount of temples, and its high altitude, this ancient place is believed to have been a sense of refuge for those of the elite, and also a university - of sorts - for the young.
We toured around as a group for 2 hours, and then Chavo completed his job as trek and tour guide, and took his leave of the group. We all now had the liberty to go and do as we pleased. I stayed with a couple from Spain and we hiked around, going up partway of the mountain Machu Pichu, and then going to see the Inkan Bridge. We posed with the grazing llamas which simply ignore the thousands of hands on tourists (including myself) who would bet them and take pictures with them.
The entire time I would keep telling myself that I was at Machu Pichu, that I had actually successfully made this 4 day trek and was able to mark off one of the 7 wonders of the world. I’m sure one day I will have come to terms with this, and actually believe that the hundred-something photographs I have were actually taken by me with my own camera. Yes, I am still in a sense of shock…
Inka Bridge
After about 6 hours total of exploring the ruins of Machu Pichu, and getting lost about 4 times, I finally made my way out of MP and took a bus back down to Aguas Calientes. I was the only one of the group left at this point as all others had headed back after 3 or 4 hours.
After eating, I ran into Chavo, and asked him about my return tickets to Cuzco.. The poor guy was yet again flustered as his company had messed up my train ticket. I was now “Jorge Calieres”… Chavo, the lady who had messed up my ticket, and I all 3 decided that if I had any issues getting onto the train because the ticket would not be accepted, the woman would pay for me to stay in Aguas Calientes another night, including a dinner and breakfast.
Luckily, the train ticket was merely glanced at, the name checked off the list, and I was safely in my seat on the train from Aguas Calientes to some remote town where I then looked for my name (My REAL name) on a sign to hop on the respective bus to return to Cuzco.
I finally arrived to my hostel by 11:30pm, got into my room and passed out for the night. The following day would be calm, with the promise of a professional full body massage, meeting up with a few friends from PUC, and my 22 hour bus from Cuzco to Lima
What an amazing 4 days, filled with exercise, adventures, injuries, delicious foods, and a world wonder.
The bus from Cuzco to Lima was not the most graceful 22 hours of my life, and I arrived to Lima looking shattered and exhausted. Carlos’s aunt took care of me, and encouraging me to rest up after losing so much energy from the ride. Carlos bought me some soup from a Chinese restaurant, and as the day went on, I began to feel more like myself again, and by the following day, ready to conquer the world again.
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