Machu Picchu, in which Briget and Barbara are best

Trip Start Jun 15, 2008
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Trip End Aug 15, 2008


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Where I stayed
A tent somewhere or other
(Machu Picchu hotels)

Flag of Peru  , Sacred Valley,
Sunday, August 3, 2008

Imo and I may have just have had the best day ever. We are in an internet cafe recovering from having conquered not only Machu Picchu, but also its neighbouring mountain Waynapicchu. We may have had to get up at 4 this morning, and may never walk again from exhaustion, but it was all worth it. Only 400 people per day are allowed to climb Waynapicchu. That sounds like a lot, but people get up to queue at 5 outside the gates to the reserver and then run through the ruins to get to the line to Waynapicchu which within about 20 minutes of the park opening has reached capacity. You then have to wait an extra hour in line for the climb which starts at 7. Imo and I had an excellent head start: we were 12th to the Machu Picchu gates, then somehow 1st into Machu Picchu, 2nd and 3rd in the line for Waynapiccu.....and 1ST to the top!!! We overtook the camera weilding weakling in front of us and powered to the top. The climb is shattering, especially after the very steep, fast paced, hour long walk to get to Machu Picchu, and the steps are massive. I found them hard enough what with having short (or vertically challenged) legs, but then on the way down, we saw this group of Japanese tourists going up, and each step was about half their height! It was hard not laughing, which would have been bad because at that stage in the climb, things are not that funny!

Anyhoo, back to the bit about getting to the top: we powered it up and ended up sitting up right at the very top of the mountain, perched on giant boulders, with most INCREDIBLE views down onto Machu Picchu and the surrounding valley. The sun was just rising and the most amazing thing was that no one else came up for about 15 minutes after we arrived, so we got a whole 15 minutes of being the kings of the mountain. nice sweaty photo at the top
nice sweaty photo at the top
 Canīt describe how amazing it was.

Soon, the top was getting a bit overrun and we thought that maybe it was time to relinquish our boulders, so we headed back down for our guided tour of the ruins. This turned out to be a bit dissapointing: our guide didnīt really speak English, he had just learned what to say from a script and hadnīt done that very well either. Luckily there were so many groups being guided around, I could listen to what the Spanish guides were saying (it seemed all the "English" guides had similar language abilities!) so all was not lost. Machu Picchu gets a lot of hype and Imo and I were expecting to be a bit dissapointed. However, the city is amazing, not just for the buildings and terraces, but also for the its incredible setting. Seems hard to imagine someone getting right up there on the mountain and thinking "seems like a good spot, think Iīll setting here...." what with the vertigo inspiring drops and steep steep slopes everywhere. I could bore you with details of water canal systems and calendar oriented building patterns, but this blog is getting long and Imo and I have to get a train back to Cusco. 

I should, however, also mention the AMAZING buffet lunch we had when we got back down in a farely fancy place where we got sat at the back next to the window where the other customers couldnīt be bothered but the fact that we were still wearing trecking shorts and hiking books, not to mention the muddy tops that we had been wearing for the past 4 days of trecking! VERY classy. Didnīt really care though, we were almost too hungry to function, having had nothing but a rubbish stale cheese sandwhich for breakfast, so we were soon tucking into the most amazing food, though the issue of what to eat first was obviously VERY challenging....The waiters were all laughing at us....all of the other customers seemed a bit underwhelmed by the food, whereas Imo and I were Yumming and Mmmmming for England!

Iīv gone on ages, Iīm going to leave it there. Hope all is good, and that everyone else is as happy as us right now (Iīd find it hard to beleive!)

love love love and BBBB
Penny
xxx
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Comments

chrisinbrussels
chrisinbrussels on Aug 5, 2008 at 03:47AM

On to of the world
Hi Penny, Great blog from MP. You sounded on top of the world (pun intended)! Love your descriptions........ but your spelling!I will put it down to the Spanish/French pollution of your English.
Really looking forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks.
Lots and lots of love and BBBB. Dad

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