The first day (Sunday) we drove in a bus with the others in our group (all from around the world) to the top of a mountain....and then biked down the other side. The first half hour was miserable because it was FREEZING and rainy and hailing and so windy!! But once we got to a lower elevation it warmed up a little and was a lot more fun. Such beautiful scenery that, yes, I was able to enjoy despite the fact that I was biking along the side of a mountain next to cars and trucks. My parents are allowed to know that now, since I'm home :)
Day number 2 started at 6am with a delicious pancake breakfast :) (I ate enough carbs this trip to last me a good, long time...) We were originally supposed to start walking right from the hostel but because it was raining and muddy we piled into a truck like cattle and were supposed to drive about 10 minutes to get past the worst parts. BUT we only made it about 3 minutes because we ran into a landslide. There was a tree in the road and a truck in the river (everyone was okay) so we had to stop and start our walking!! This was supposedly the hardest day because about 2 hours of it is completely uphill...which, yes, was very difficult....And I can't imagine how much more difficult it would have been had I only been in Cusco a few days like some of the others in my group. We walked that day until about 6:00 when we finally arrived at our next hostel, exhausted and smelling very much like wet clothing. And, therefore, leaving our windowless room smelling of the same thing.
The third day only consisted of about 6 hours of walking. My friends and I were so ready to be there that we didn't even stop for our afternoon break. The scenery the entire way was absolutely beautiful and we got our first glimpse of Machu Pichu about two hours away from our destination. We arrived in Aguas Calientes around 3:00 and by 3:30 my friends and I had changed and were already sitting in the natural hot springs :) Well deserved!!!
Even though we were exhausted, we didn't have much time to rest. We had to wake up at 3:30am in order to be at the bottom of Aguas Calientes at 4:45 to hike up to Machu Pichu to secure a ticket up Wayna Pichu. Wayna Pichu is the huge mountain you see in the famous Machu Pichu pictures that 400 people a day are allowed to climb, 200 at 7am and 200 at 10am. Climbing it gives you a beautiful birds eye view of Machu Pichu. My friends and I were waiting at the bridge at 4:15 in order to climb 1,782 stairs to Machu Pichu and wait in line for a ticket. There are also buses that go up the mountain but you're not guaranteed a ticket, so we climbed!!! As if we hadn't walked enough! It was very very rough but extremely rewarding. After our climb, our guide gave us a tour of Machu Pichu, which was amazing despite the fog and rain.
We then climbed Wayna Pichu (another 1,500ish stairs) at 10am and sat at the top waiting for the clouds to clear so we could see Machu Pichu. It wasn't hard to miss because everyone started cheering when it came into view. We stayed on the mountain for awhile to get pictures and then climbed back down and this time took a bus back to Aguas Calientes....We were hungry and figured we'd walked enough :)
I arrived back in Cusco via train and bus around 11:30 Wednesday night and slept like a ROCK!!!!!! I had my last day at the daycare today, which was a lot of fun..I really missed the kids!!!
Monday I start my class, which I'm pretty excited about, although I hear it's a ton of work. I haven't taken a class in a while, so hopefully I can manage!!!
Thanks again for all your prayers and support :) I'm over halfway done with my trip and getting excited for summer hearing about the nice weather you're having!!
Abrazos!!
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