Hatuchay Tower Machu Picchu

... em nossa mente mas nunca aconteceu. Lembro ate quando eu e Marcelo Torok fizemos uma poesia; Acho que era assim: " No passado era Rei, templo sagrado erguido. Mas meu irmao matei, irmao para irmao sumido". Sempre sentimos uma ligacao forte com Machu Picchu como se uma outra vida havia se passado. Hoje quando cheguei a Machu Picchu senti uma forca que nao ha como explicar. Primeiro foi como cheguei a Machu Picchu. Foram 8 horas de onibus (lotado ate o pescoco ...

... get to the top and be first to see Machu Picchu and also a lot of people were running past to try to get tickets to Waynapicchu, which is the mountain on the other side of Machu Picchu that also has great views of the Inca site. There are only 400 tickets available and they're available to day-trippers (those who take the train up for the day) as well as those of us who have hiked the Inca Trail. So those tickets go quickly and if you want to do it from the Inca Trail ...

... but nothing too difficult. But to just be flying down the mountain with the wind beating at you and the cars sometimes passing on the other side with such amazing views. Ag. It was majestic.<br><br>But then when we stopped for lunch it rained. And our next part was to be on dirt roads. And rain meant mud instead. I couldn´t even eat lunch because all the wind had passed through my lungs and dried it out and I was already miserable from a little ...

... a much easier day: I thought the Incas´ were short but given the size of some of the steps, they must have been giants. In total we climbed down over 3,000 steps, so you can imagine the elation we felt to arrive at the camp &amp; find a hot shower waiting for us. Again, it wasn´t quite the luxury I was dreaming of, but wow it felt great to be (semi) clean again.<br><br>As it was our last night they baked us a cake - I´m not sure how, but sometimes it is better not ...

... Argentina (the one with the leather seats which folded into a bed and a waiter serving proper meals) we though they would all be like that but were in for a shock. It was like a Johnson brothers school bus from 1970 with a few more seats crammed in for good measure. Just to make things a bit worse, we were sat next to the toilet which had a monster living in it...and we had a 22hour journey ahead of us!<br><br>Saying no more about that bus ...

... When I reached the point at which I didn't have the guts to try climbing higher, I lay down on a rock and took in the magnificent scenery of snow-capped peaks, forest-covered mountains, and clouds rolling between everything (at our altitude, the clouds were on the same level as we were; unfortunately, they tend not to photograph well, but in person they look awesome). <br><br>From Dead Woman's Pass, our second campsite lay further into the valley beyond, about 600 m lower. The rest of ...

... I struggled at the top of Huaynapicchu. My advise to anyone reading this who is planning to go is as follows.<br><br>1. Get fit. It is an amazing experience and you don´t want to be shattered when you get to Machu Picchu.<br>2. Definately give yourself a good few days to acclimatise. The first few days in Cusco were hard work.<br>3. If you are not fit/acclimatised you don´t have to try and be a hero and walk up to the site and then do Huaynapicchu. Doing ...

... fountains.<br>The 4th day involves getting up at half past 3 in the morning - although they did bake us a cake and ice it in honour of Kassias upcoming birthday.The reason for the early start is to queue at the checkpoint for when it opens at 5:30am - this is the last stretch and the going just got mighty competitive. The reason for this is Waynu Picchu - the small mountain on the other side of Machu Picchu where those postcard view photos are taken. Only 400 tickets are ...