Machu Picchu, Part 2

The bus ride from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu was bumpy and full of hairpin turns, which made it difficult to finish my coffee, which did not come with a top.  I was sort of glad that I wasn´t able to see anything at that hour, because it seemed as if we were relatively close to the edge of the cliff.  We were.  Here´s an aerial view of that road.

When we got there, there were already around 100 people there- a combination of people who had just hiked the Inca Trail (which I was too late to sign up for- you have to book months in advance) and those who had walked from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu.  We took a group photo and then said good-bye to our Argentinian friends.

Ronald and I got our choice of what time we wanted to climb Wayna Picchu, and Ronald chose 7 AM, the earlier time.  The guidebook says to take the later one if given the choice, but I was not about to argue with someone who had just been so incredibly generous to me.  This decision ended up being a great one.  We climbed Wayna Picchu when it was still cool out (later on it got very hot), had plenty of time to play around on the top, and were able to encourage people who had chosen the 10:00 ascent as we were making our descent.  Here, I show my excitement about getting a chance to climb that beautiful mountain.

The climb up Wayna Picchu was not for the faint of heart, or the out of shape.  It kind of reminded me of the Great Wall, except that there were no fences to catch people who might fall backwards down the steps, and it was either all uphill or all downhill, depending on which part of the journey you were on.  Like the Great Wall, the stairs were all made of stone, and quite irregular.  Some were higher than my knee, which made it a bit rough, and in most places there were no hand rails.  The Incas thought of everything but hand rails.

The altitude (which starts at 7,875 ft. and finishes at 8,875 feet) was more than I'm used to.  This was really the only thing that made it difficult.  We had to stop several times to catch our breath.  One of the people we met up with on the trial pulled out a bag of...lettuce...and we put that in our cheeks and let it take effect.  Okay, so it wasn´t lettuce.  It was coca leaves.  Which is where coke comes from.  It´s only a narcotic, though, after you put it through a nasty, dirty chemical process.  Before that, it´s commonly used to treat altitude sickness.  In fact, at every hotel at a higher altitude like that offers you a complimentary cup of coca tea upon arrival.  I don´t think the coca leaves really had any effect on me, but Ronald said they made his cheek numb.  Maybe I didn´t try enough, which is fine with me.  I had no problem.

Eventually, we started getting to the point where we had some pretty sweet views of Machu Picchu.  One of the final stages of the climb was to go through two narrow tunnels, which freaked the living crap out of me.  Getting stuck in something like this is the sort of thing I have nightmares about.  I kept thinking, "Gee, I hope we don´t have an earthquake right now," which, of course, we didn´t.  Here I am, emerging from the second and final tunnel. 

Finally, after about an hour and a half of climbing and stopping along the way to take pictures, we arrived at the top.  I imagined a nice, flat, grassy area with maybe a railing or something like that.  Ha!  Right.  It was nothing more than a series of boulders, which looked like they had been dropped out of the sky at random.  Some were a bit slippery, making climbing around on them difficult.  But, the view was spectacular.

I did a little meditating at the top of the highest rock,

 tried standing up,

and only fell once (but I caught myself).

After descending the mountain (which was probably the hardest part, because you´re looking down instead of focusing on the next step up), Ronaldiño and I went to the cafe and *inhaled* some food.  I could have eaten my weight in pizza, but it was so expensive that I just got one piece.  We had also both brought snacks along with us, and stopped to eat periodically on the way up and down.

We re-entered the park and hired a tour guide (just for the two of us, for the low low price of only 20 soles, or about $7 each- it helps to go with a Peruvian) to show us around.  We took the standard photos that you might see in a postcard, with the mountain we had climbed right behind the ruins.

Our guide was very nice about taking pictures of us, which I don´t think would have been the case if we had been in a bigger group.

We stopped to pet the llamas that live on the grounds towards the end of our journey.  They apparently started out with just two, and they have since multiplied and are all over the place.

All in all, our day was fabulous.  It started out quite dismally, and then everything started going my way (thanks to Ronald).  The weather was beautiful, and it was fun to be able to see the ruins with a new friend.