Machu Pichu

Planning and coordinating our trip to Machu Pichu definitely turned me into a militant tourist for the first time since I left for South America. And my poor friend Shannon had to be subjected to my crazy plans and schedules. We met the train in Ollantaytambo and arrived in Aguas Calientes in the dark on Thursday evening. I then dragged Shannon around getting our 40 dollar entrance tickets to the ruins. --You have to buy them in advance. We then bought our 12 dollar bus tickets that evening (The bus would take us up the hillside to the Machu Pichu site. In other parts of Peru, a 30 minute bus ride would cost no more than 60 cents, but since it is the only way of getting there besides walking up the steep hillside, you have to fork over the dough). Shannon and I (or was it just"I?") made plans to get up at 4:30 am so we could go on the first bus leaving at 5:30 am to Machu Pichu.

When Shannon´s alarm went off, I got up, brushed my teeth and then when I saw Shannon sleeping in until 4:35 am, I kicked her out of bed. I didn´t allow time for breakfast so we scarfed down some Cliff bars that Shannon had brought along from home. As Shannon got ready, I counted down how much time we had before we had to leave the hostel, "15 minutes! 10 minutes! 3 minutes!.." --Poor Shannon....no decent breakfast and getting bossed around at 4:30 am.

When we arrived at the bus stop (At the planned time of 5am thank you very much!), there were already over 20 people waiting in line for the bus. Shannon and I were the last two people to make it onto the first bus (Ha!). By 5:30am, there were well over 200 people waiting for the first buses to arrive. When we pulled into the entrance, I force Shannon to fly through the site without stopping so we could get in line to be one of the people allowed to go up the mountain of Wayni Pichu that overlooks the ruins (They only allow a limited number to go up each day). Since I had stayed up studying the map all evening and calculating the fasted way to get to the registration booth, we were among the first 20 people to arrive to the registration booth. I learned, upon arrival, that they permitted 400 people to go up the mountain each day. So maybe my planning was a bit overzealous...

As we stood in line waiting for the registration booth to open at 7am, I "graciously" encouraged Shannon to go check out some of the ruins and take pictures. Shannon returned well before 7am after checking out some of the ruins (She probably feared for her life if she did not return in time for the registration booth to open).

As soon as the booth opened, we began our one hour hike up and up and up Wayni Pichu. Since I had been on three treks at over 3000m in elevation, I was just elated with the walk. I kept saying things like, "Isn´t this a great walk?" or "I love hiking!" Shannon, who has had only a few days to acclimatize to this elevation did not seem quite as enthused and energetic. Perhaps she had a few moments where she thought about pushing me off the side of the mountain, but she never let on and managed to maintain a positive attitude throughout the trek. We arrive to the top at around 8 am and looked over the expansive views of the ruins surrounded by steep mountains.

There was hardly anyone in the ruins (Most were in line at the Wayni Pichu registration booth) so the ruins were barren and beautiful. I definitely felt like all the planning paid off in the end. We sat for a long time on the mountain side and orientated ourselves to the ruins while eating cookies that I had smuggled in (No eating allowed in Machu Pichu!).

Shannon and I wandered the ruins all day. We also squeezed in a few naps on the terraces and ate a hardy lunch just outside the entrance gate. At around 3pm, Shannon and I took the bus back to Aguas Calientes and met up with another fellow tourist for dinner.

After dinner, I came down with some food poisoning and spent the evening getting acquainted with the hostel´s communal bathroom. Could it have been bad Carma coming back to me after torturing my poor friend Shannon at 4:30 in the morning? Who knows...but Shannon managed to sleep through the whole thing undisturbed.

Today we are passing the time on the Internet and chilling out in Aguas Calientes until our train leaves at 4pm. I am feeling a bit better and have been drinking pineapple flavored, "Electrolight!"

Tomorrow, Shannon and I will go to one of the Sunday markets in the Sacred Valley. On Sunday evening we will meet up with another traveler for dinner in Cuzco and on Tuesday, I will leave Shannon and fly to Lima to catch my flight back to the states.

Thank you to everyone who has been so supportive of my travels. Although I have been traveling "alone" for most of my trip, I think it´s fair to say that I was rarely on my own. I received lots of e-mails from friends and family back home and no matter where I went, I was fortunate to meet some really amazing and kind people along the way. Although I would much rather have preferred traveling with Daniel, I don´t think I would have met so many people or forced myself to reach out as much as I did.

-stace