Machu Picchu

Wednesday

8:55 AM

This morning we ate a fast breakfast at 4:45 and met at the bus stop for a wonderfully comfy bus ride up to our destination, Machu Picchu. Since we were one of the first to arrive, when we walked into the site, there weren’t many tourists, just the incredible ruins in front of us. Because we're in the cloud forest, a fog was settled around the tall mountain, Wayna Picchu, and below we could see the ruins.

Haver showed us all the important parts of the ruins: the condor, the water mirrors, the sun temple, etc.

We walked down a path and there were two cute llamas. Haver told us they like to kiss, so I put a piece of a granola bar in my mouth and the llama and I smooched!

We said goodbye to Haver, and then explored the site some more.

Now we are sitting enjoying some croissants and cookies. It is amazing to see how many people are coming now. The place is quickly filling up!

12:32 PM

Our last goal in Machu Picchu was to wait until 12:00 and feel the energy from a special sun rock. We climbed up to the tower but weren't able to stay in front of the rock until 12 so we went down a few steps and waited by a wall near the rock. Just to be funny, I started placing my hands and forehead on the wall and soon the others were doing it. Come noontime we were all standing in a line with our foreheads and hands on the wall trying to "capture the energy." The other tourists walking by were having a great time laughing at us (direct quotes from a British group: "oh my, are they sacrificing themselves to the sun god?" and "wow, that'll make a mad good picture"). So yes, we actually had people taking pictures of us, and then others started to join as well. The whole thing turned out to be hilarious!

And of course we had to have many photo shoot sessions from the vantage point of the Guard House because you can see the whole site!

Now we are back on the bus headed back to Aguas Calientes and soon we'll be headed back to Cusco on the train. I have officially conquered the Salkantay trail and been to Machu Picchu! I guess anything is possible!

Later that night...

Unfortunately, it seems our group has bad luck as far as transportation goes. We rode the train for about an hour, until we reached Ollaytantambo. There, we joined another group of people and began to head back to Cusco in a van. About 45 minutes into our drive, we began to smell an awful burning smell and there was something clearly very wrong with the van we were in. The driver pulled over and began running up to other tour vans, asking if they had room for other people. Mickayla, Soos, James, and I got put in the same van – Mickayla and Soos sat up front next to the driver and James and I sat in the very back. Our whole van was filled with local Peruvians who weren’t exactly thrilled that we were crowding the van with ourselves and our baggage. We thought the ride wouldn’t be long, but we were wrong. Soon we saw snowcapped mountains and we knew that we weren’t anywhere close to Cusco. At one point I passed out on James' backpack and my duffel bag accidentally slid and tapped a little child who was hanging over the side of his seat. The mom wasn’t too happy, but the child never even stirred. After that, I stayed awaked for the rest of the trip. We reached the Plaza de Armas at 11 PM and then had to walk to our hotel. We were exhausted but this psycho dog followed us the whole way home (he would run out in the street and chase and bark at cars, then come back to us and follow closely at Soos' heels). It really wasn’t funny at the time, but looking back now at the whole thing cracks me up, and makes a funny story!!