World Peru Cusco Machu Picchu

Glenn and Melissa's South American Honeymoon 2008

Machu Picchu!! Jun 23, 2008

Todays trek is shorter than the previous days - thank goodness - and you could feel the excitement in the air. We woke up as per previous days, with a porter knocking on our tent. But today we weren´t offered the normal cup of tea before we leave the tent. Understandably thoguh, because we were due to begin the trek at about 4am.

We left the campsite at about 4:10am and with me at the front we arrived at the checkpoint about 10 minutes later. It was still dark and the checkpoint doesn´t open until 5:30am, so we had a bit of waiting around to do. The reason we got there so early was to beat the crowds, as there was to be 200 people trekking to Machu Picchu this morning. Finally the checkpoint opened, our names were crossed off and it was time!! It was quite funny - during the last few days Glenn and I were always up front, however after the checkpoint we got stuck behind the slowest person in our group. Really not the right day for that to happen! And, we had in our minds what Julio had told us previously - that people will run to get to the front and do anything to pass other people. So, when the track got a little wider, we were off! We passed the slow person with 2 others from our group, and with our head torches on (as it was still dark), we got a good distance in front. After a short time we couldn´t see anyone behindus and suddenly the 2 guys in front of Glenn and I took off and left us in their tracks. It was a nice feeling to feel like we were alone on the track.

Light began to shine through so we turned our head torches off, however there was still a lot of fog and we couldn´t see over the side of the cliff to the right of us. In the back of our minds we remembered what Julio had said to us and it was then that I gave myself a goal - to be the first girl to trek the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu for that day, and to let nobody pass us!

Todays track wasn´t too bad - a few rocky steps, but mostly it was relatively flat. Everything was going great (except for the shortness of breath at one stage when we quickened up the pace), until we reached a bunch of rocky steps that were the steepest we had encountered so far. And probably the steepest we have ever seen - or were we just so tired that it only looked that way? But, we fought through them, climed tothe top and realised that it mustn´t be to far from the Sun Gate - which you could say is kind of the beginning of Machu Picchu.

Finally we reached the Sun Gate. It was still foggy but it was only about half an hour downhill to our destination! Notlong after this, we reached some huge ruins and saw groups of people walking around (they caught the train there rather than trek it). Deep down I knew we couldn´t be there yet, but because it was foggy we weren´t 100% sure. We asked one person how far it was to Machu Picchu. She replied "I think you´re here". Hmmm... The trail kept going so we decided to keep walking. We passed someone else and he told us it was about 300m away. How exciting! Finally, we knew we were at Machu Picchu when we saw the most beautiful sight.

It was still cloudy but slowly the clouds were rising. Around us were huge mountains with the sun wanting to push through them. We were standing on the Inca Terraces and below us were the amazing ruins. In front of us was the famous backdrop to MachuPicchu - Wayna Picchu mountain. I actually found it quite moving and I got a little teary. Not long after, I realised that I had succeeded and had achieved my goal.. I was the first girl to trek to Machu Picchu that day and no one had passed us!! That meant that Glenn was 3rd and I got there 4th. Yay us! The rest of our group was starting to arrive as the clouds were continuing to rise. When Julio made it (he stayed back with the slower people from our group), we found him sitting on an Inca Terrace, playing his Incan Flute. We found a place to sit with him and listen to the sounds while overlooking the ruins. This is a moment we will never, ever forget. As Julio was playing the flute, slowly the clouds cleared, the sun began to rise over Machu Picchu and the whole area started to come in to view. It really was breathtaking.

After taking it all in, we walked around the outskirts then went to the office to ´register´and get a Machu Picchu stamp for our passports. We were then able to go within the ruins. After some walking around, Glenn and 2 other guys decided to walk (or climb, more like it), up Wayna Picchu. There was no way I could have done it at that stage as I had injured my hip, although I would´ve loved to. Glenn describes it as being very tough due to the need to climb - hands and feet - up the steps as they were so steep and narrow. However, when he reached the top he says it was all worth the pain. During this time I took the opportunity to walk through the ruins by myself and take it all in. I found a lovely little place where I sat and admired everything around me. When the guys got back, Julio took us for a tour inside the ruins, explaining them to us and telling us stories.

Unfortunately it all had to come to an end at around 2pm and we made our way to Aguas Calientas. We had lunch there then caught the train back to Cusco. We were all so tired when we got back, but this was going to be the last night for some of the members of the tour group, so we decided to meet up with them for a few drinks. It ended up being a pretty huge night with lots of dancing and drinking involved. We´ve definitely made some friends here and got some memories to last us a lifetime.