15-9-2010: Day 5, Machu Picchu

The breathtakingly beautiful dawn on the trek to Machu Picchu. It´s this beautiful in photo, but when it´s 3-dimensional, OH-MY-GOD!

Early in the morning, Machu Picchu was filled with morning fog in the midst of the cloud forest.

The Hut of the Caretake of the Funerary Rock where you can overlook the postcard perfect view of Machu Picchu.

This is my favorite picture of Machu Picchu!

A llama eating grass near the Royal Palace.

Another white llama standing in the midst of the terrance overlooking the stunning view.

Me ´flying´in Machu Picchu!

At around 10am, I was on my way to climb Wayna Picchu (the Young Peak), which is the peak on the right side.

Within the ruins, you can see up close the incredible architecture.

Inside the Royal Palace.

A view of the Royal Palace with Wayna Picchu as the backdrop.

A maze-like ruin.

Almost at the end of the Wayna Picchu trek and onto its ruins.

On the side of Wayna Picchu, Machu Picchu (the Old Peak) suddenly looks so different! On the left side it´s the road for buses to Machu Picchu. The hiking trek is somewhere in the middle.

A dandelion like plant with the Inca terrancing and road to Machu Picchu as the backdrop.

Inside the Inca Tunnel on the way up to the top of Wayna Picchu.

A friendly lizard on the top of Wayna Picchu.

A steep steep climb down from the top of Wayna Picchu.

Back to Machu Picchu, this is the Temple of the Sun.

Inca´s window overlooking the ruins.

Another view of Machu Picchu when the sun came out.

The entire Royal Palace.

My last hike of the day ... Puente Inca (Inca´s bridge). It´s notoriously dangerous, and no one´s allowed in there as someone fell from there before.

After much anticipation, my trip to one of the highlights of all South America travels arrived: Machu Picchu. Initially I had booked the Inca Trail in hope of getting a greater experience out of it. Well, this is Perú, and my travel agency forgot to reconfirm my place and so I couldn´t do it. And it took them weeks to refund me the whole amount ... well, that´s another story. Anyway, instead of being upset about it (I have learned a lot of tolerance of how things work here already!), I was happy to save some money by not doing the Inca Trail because it was criminally overpriced. Now that I had already been to Machu Picchu, I am soooo glad that I didn´t do it. For starters, there could be some annoying people that I would encounter in the trek and the worst would be that I had no way to get out! Secondly, there were tons of walking and trekking to do within Machu Picchu, and it´s enough to wear you out. Plus, once you have seen the grandeur of Machu Picchu, those tiny ruins around the Inca Trail would seem worthless to see.

I woke up at 3am trying to get to Puente Ruinas (Ruins Bridge) where only 400 people per day can trek up to Machu Picchu. I was on the front of the line, and all other independent travelers and alternative Inca Trail trekkers were there waiting the gate to open at 5am. It actually opened at 4:45am, and it took about an hour to hike up there. It was still dark in the beginning, so we all had flashlights with us. It was a steep climb, but it wasn´t technically difficult. About half way through, the light started changing, and it was such a beautiful sight. A few minutes before we arrived on the top, the sky was literally in different hues of blues serenaded by smoky clouds and cone shaped peaks. It was absolutely breathtaking!

As I stepped into the ruins, it was so exciting that I simply can´t describe. You see Machu Picchu all the time in photos, especially they are everywhere in Perú. But being in it was another story. I was completely allured by the mystery and grandeur of the site and the stunning surrounding. It was like a dream being in Machu Picchu, suddenly felt like I was so small surrounded by crafted architecture and majestic nature. I was amazed by all the artistic stonework that the Incas had done, and wondered how they did it up high in the mountain! There were thousands types of birds and butterflies flying around the ruins as if Machu Picchu were their home!

At 10am, I climbed up the backdrop mountain of Machu Picchu, Wayna Picchu. There are only a limit of 200 people going up there each day, and we got signed up before entering Machu Picchu in early morning. It looked really steep and high, and everyone was a bit shocked at first. But once we were on the trek, it wasn´t so technically difficult and only took about 45 minutes. Once we climbed up to the top, the view was definitely worth the trek. Machu Picchu doesn´t look the same from this side of the world, and one can see the full view of Machu Picchu. After trekking up and down this super hilly peak, I wearily did a final tour of the great ruins before heading back to boring Aguas Calientes and took the train back to Ollantaytambo.