Machu Picchu

Sunday marked about the 3 week mile marker of us being away from the states. In just 3 more short weeks I will be in Dallas starting my internship and real life. It's crazy to think that our trip is going by so quickly, but it is days like this that slowing down isn't all that hard to do.

We made it to the bus line by about 5 in the morning to wait for our turn to head up the mountain. It sounds a little crazy, but we really wanted to make it to the top before sunrise. Our wake up call did us well and we made it to the top on time. As soon as we were let into the gates we rushed to one of the highest points on the grounds to take everything in and wait for the sun to peak over the mountain.

Luis began explaining the layout of the ruins while we anxiously awaited the sun. I never could have possibly imagined how huge Machu Picchu really is. It's absolutely gigantic and the placement of this civilization is strategic and safe. The ruins sit at the top of a mountain that is surrounded by a river and many more massive peaks. It's as if it's in the center of the Incan world.

When the sun finally peaked over the tip of the mountain on the east side, the ruins were illuminated to a golden brown. The land seems absolutely unreal and I sat perched on a high rock thinking to myself that I couldn't possibly be so blessed to have the opportunity to see something so majestic in my lifetime that not even a fraction of the population gets to experience.

 

These pictures cannot justify the wonder that we saw, but the ruins do have the best law mowers in the world keeping up the property. The one and only trusty set of llamas that freely roam the grounds. It really is hard to. Believe people actually lived and sustained themselves here so long ago. The houses and royal buildings were well designed and sturdy enough to withstand all the earthquakes that have occurred.

Just a couple of the views we had as the sun rose over the mountains. It was absolutely unreal!

After walking and exploring all of the main areas of the ruins it was time for our last big challenge of the day. In the background of the picture above you can see the peak overlooking Machu Picchu called Waynapicchu. Everyone we talked to before coming on this trip said that absolutely had to make sure we could climb this. They limit it to only 400 people per day so we got lucky in booking this extra adventure. At this point in our trip I was exhausted and honestly wanted to vomit at the sight of anymore stairs. When Luis said his goodbyes and left us to the rest of our trip we took a moment to rejuvenate before hiking up. He literally took us up, around, over, and down all over the Andes Moutains and this was just one more piece to the puzzle. Looking up at the beginning of our trek up Waynapicchu I saw nothing but stairs, but it was go time.

Up we went for about 40 minutes on stairs like these. This depiction is actually one of the less strap and greater surface area sets that we climbed on. A good majority of them were random rocks and tiny 6inch wide pieces of mountain. Once we made it to the top Sara and I couldn't resist the Aggie spirit amongst the other tourists.

We also found some cool little windows to hang out on and overlook the surrounding area. Talk about an awesome place for quiet time. Don't worry moms and dads, the ledge had no railing and there wasn't much below us other than the edge of the mountain.

 

We enjoyed walking all round up there and wished we had packed our lunch to sit up there and enjoy. Tons of people were enjoying the mountain top breeze wi their lunches and we were a bit envious. Right before heading down we decided to make one more small climb up to the tippy top point of this peak. We were determined to see it all and Michael found himself maneuvering the rocks that sat at the very point of Waynapicchu.

So our 4 day excursion had finally come to an end as we headed down the mountain to catch our bus. We were worn out, exhausted, and sore but that much more enriched by the majestic tngs we saw over the past four days. One bus ride, one train ride, and a freezing cold taxi ride later we arrived back in Cusco. It was an incredible journey spent with wonderful friends!