Day 9:
Machu Picchu.
So everyone in all the treks were to wake up at 4am, eat breakfast and start heading in the direction for the 1 hour hike straight up to get there around 6am when Machu Picchu opens. They said you want to be there first so there's less tourists. The main herd of tourists comes between 8-10am when the trains and busses and other modes of transportation comes in.
Sooooo we opted out of the hike and chose to ride the bus up. Yup, 20 minute bus ride to save our legs for the huayna Picchu hike. So we arrive around 6 and there is a huge line of people already. When the doors open, our tour guide have us a good tour and explained about the incas and the Spanish that tried to come and conquer this area. Apparently they never found Machu Picchu which is why it's not considered ruins by any means. How can it be ruins if it wasn't ruined? It was quite interesting to understand that this area was also mainly women (apparently he was a pimp and he had a lot of wives)
The day was spent obviously taking pictures! But at 10am, we had our ticket up to huynhu Picchu. They only allow 200 people up at 8am and 200 people at 10am. So these tickets are prebought and be sold out fast. This was also an hour hike up. And when I say up, I mean up! It was like so vertical that I started getting freaked out and almost afraid of heights! Haha I'm climbing with my hands and feet up. There's only rope like hand rails part of the time. I just keep wondering to myself, how do the old people do it?? The rocks are uneven and steep and I mean it's just so vertical! An hour later and probably 28849392 steps later, we're up at the top! So huayna Picchu is an adjacent mountain that basically overlooks Machu Picchu and the landmark. Beautiful breathtaking view. There are nice platforms for you to take pictures from but if you choose to climb to the tippy top, it's all these big rocks. Watch out, don't lose your camera or phone or your footing! We stayed up there for an hour or two before making the trek back down. My thighs were jello, it's scarier looking down at some vertical points. But obviously I made it down.
Took more pictures and then called it a day. We had beautiful weather, sunny skies and warm weather. So warm and sunny it was actually very hot and draining. We had the choice to hike down the macchu Picchu and the steps that we opted in the morning not to hike or take a bus. We chose the bus. I know, I know but my legs were jello! And I was hungry!
Back in the town of aguas calientes, we searched for some food. It's very very touristy and even trying to avoid the very touristy restaurants we still had no choice but to pay slightly higher than our normal lunch and dinners. We walked by a few places and they all always try to get you to eat at their place. We ended up at this one place because he saw us looking at the menu and the prices and he offered 20 soles for anything on the menu! Most of the stuff was 35 soles and up. We agreed to his strange bargain. I say strange because you bargain other things anywhere else, but at a restaurant? And not only that, we didn't bargain, he bargained for us! Haha.
I ordered chicharon de pollo. Fried chicken, kinda. Well the closest I could get. (I've been craving it !!) it was delicious and they followed it with a chi cha drink. I've been passing mine off to Theresa because she loves it and I think it tastes like bubble gum, but this one was good! All places make it kinda different, so all I know is I like how this place makes it. It tasted more like grape juice:) Fried chicken and grape drank. Ah so Annie. Haha.
Afterwards we hung out at our hostel and the other American girls from our trek. The 5 day trek people ended up there and we all got reunited again! We went to a restaurant and bargained with them for 5 piso sours for 25 soles. Usually it's like 12-15 soles per drink! So this was a steal! Our tour guide ended up showing up and we played that one drinking game from the night before. 3 pisco sours later, I was seriously buzzed. But it was time to go. Our train back to cusco was at 6:45pm. But of course with Theresa there and her bad luck with travel delays, our train was delayed for 2 something hours. We ended up just souvenir shopping around the train station. So around 9:30 we finally get on the road. It was a 2 hour train ride to some city, and then a bus was to pick us up for cusco city. So we didn't get back to cusco until 1:30am.
Pooped! So pooped! But it was a good day. :) Machu Picchu was beautiful. Yes we had a few short cuts to get up there but hey, I would say for hiking the majority of it, I did good. It was just too intense the whole trek. I could've done it but I'd have to go at my own pace. Honestly, other people who told me they did it or whatever had 2 tour guides, one to be behind the slowest people. Haha we only had one, so I dunno, makes you feel bad when you drag other people behind. I've run into other people who did the inca trail and though that's also a difficult trail, they have a lot of ruins to look at and take picture of along the way and the hike itself is a lot about half the distance of the salkantay trail. Our trail was pretty but if you are huffin and puffin it's sometimes hard to enjoy the view. There was also a jungle trek, which is the easiest. You cycle one day, the next you zip line half the day and half the distance and you hike the rest and the third I think you may hike a little too. Either way, they have their fun short cuts to get you to the place you need to be. Or you can just fly or bus or train directly into that city at the bottom of macchu Picchu and bus up and down. So there's a few ways of getting to Machu Picchu. Haha just being honest here. I think anyone else may be able to do it, I just know I have a hard time hiking uphill period. I have a hard time back at home and that's without the altitude.
Still worth it, and I highly recommend anyone to see macchu Picchu, and hike huayna Picchu to see the overview. But however you get there, it's up to you. I won't judge ;) I just told you my story so hopefully you don't judge ! Haha
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