Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu here we come! No, we didn't hike the Inka trail...we just took the train. And the train ride through the Sacred Valley up to Aguas Calientes was super nice! I couldn't stop staring through the roof windows up the steep, steep mountains. The panorama in this area is crazy beautiful.

There are great "termas" in Aguas Calientes. This is how we got ready for our big day at Machu Picchu, and how we relaxed after.  : )

 See the red stamp on that paper? That's our entry ticket to Wayna Picchu. Know what we had to do to get that stamp? I can tell you it wasn't easy!
We got up at 3am and started hiking to the first gate at the bottom of a steep, steep mountain. On our way, we walked past the bus station  which already had a long line with people waiting for the first bus leaving at 5.30am to take them up there. Instead of taking the bus, we decided to hike up the stairs to Machu Picchu. At the first gate we had to wait til 4.45am for the guard to open the gate. He wouldn't even take a bribe, as we heard he did the day before, to let us in early because his boss was right there with him. Luckily we got up early enough and were almost first in line.  Once the gate opened, we started hiking up a lot of very steep stairs in the dark. The pace was quite fast and it had a competitive drive to it. Everyone really wanted to be early in the next line and guarantee that they get their stamp for Wayna Picchu. The altitude wasn't a problem here. Staying in Cuzco helped us adjust to the high altitude - it's at 3400m (11200ft) above sea level. Machu Picchu is only at about 2700m (8900ft).  It took us 45 min to get up to the real entry gate and as you can see we got our stamp. There are only 400 visitors per day allowed up Wayna Picchu, 200 at 8 and 200 at 11am. Here you can see why it's such a wanted entry ticket:

Wayna Picchu is the tall mountain directly behind the top pink flower and you can hike to the very top of it.

 When we first got to Machu Picchu, 'the lost city',  it was still foggy and had a very mystic feel to it.

Watching the sun rise over the mountain and lighting up Incan ruins was worth getting up so early.

Our entry slot for Wayna Picchu was between 10 and 11 am. We lined up a little bit before 11 and just as our little group of 4 was about to enter and sign into the log book, the guide stopped us. "400 people already entered today, you can't go up." WHAT??? Really? The last four people in line? You have to be kidding! All that hiking and waiting in line for nothing? No way! We tried to sweet talk the guy telling him it's not fair and we had done everything we were supposed to do to be let in, and he wasn't budging. So we just kind of pushed our way in a bit and argued with him a little. Finally we were allowed in. That was close!

It was one of the steepest hikes I've ever done. No security rail around the trail and the edge is super steep. Here you can see some of narrow stairs on the Wayna Picchu trail. This first one actually had a rope to help you pull yourself up.

Here is the proof, we made it to the top of Wayna Picchu.  That lighter patch on the right side is the main part of Machu Picchu.  Tracy and Arunan were super nice company. We were lucky to have shared the adventure with them.

After the steep hike we enjoyed a relaxing moment surrounded by llamas.