Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Today has finally arrived!!!!! After years of dreaming about seeing Machu Picchu I was only hours away! I'm pretty sure everyone had had enough of my twitching at the breakfast table but I was just so excited. As soon as we got through control at about 5:30am (we got up so early so we could be one of the first in the massive line that waits to get through control) I raced ahead determined to get there before the sun came up.
It was only 2 hours away, and once I'd reached the infamous "gringo killer" steps and flew up them, I reached the Sun Gate and saw it, in all it's glory - MACHU PICCHU! From the Sun Gate you got a great view of all the ruins, but I didn't hang around for long up there, I was still about 25 mins away from the site and the sun was still rising. I had no idea where the rest of my group was but I didn't really care, I made it with about 15 minutes up my sleeve until the sun rose up over the mountains, so I sat on a huge boulder about Machu Picchu and watch it slowly cover this breathtaking city in light. It's a bit dorky but I definitely got a bit teary seeing it for the first time. It is just so huge and well made, it really defies belief.
And I'm not much of a history buff, but the Incan people are something else. They conquered huge areas of land and built thousands of buildings and terraces, all in less than 100 years. It makes you wonder what things they could have achieved if the Spanish hadn't arrived to conquer them.
Edwin and the others arrived about an hour later (I really think I must have run fast!) and we took all the generic tourist photos before he took us on a tour of the ruins. We saw the beautiful 16 fountains all still flowing from a natural spring that supplied the city, the Incas had carved semi-circle pipes into solid bedrock to allow the water to flow through the whole city.
The brickwork was incredible too, obviously they didn't have cement to bind the bricks, so each solid block was hand carved to fit perfectly to every single other rock surrounding it. You can't even slide a credit card into the gap. One famous rock had a staggering 24 angles so it could fit.
We then checked out the kings room, which came complete with its own toilet and fireplace, and of course, they had also carved holes for a wooden door to lock the king in and keep him safe. In this room and many others, there were trapezoidal shelves in the walls for storing food,clothes, crockery etc, so Edwin wanted to show us something really cool about these little windows. He got us to all stand facing one (which was like a window but with bricks behind it) and start humming. The longer I hummed for the louder it got in my ears, until it felt like it was vibrating inside my head! Now I have no idea how it happened, but apparently it's got something to do with the perfect trapezoid shape. They believe the incas used this to call their family members if they were out wandering around the town.
Next up was two huge rocks separated by a small one, in the shape of a condor - a sacred bird of the Incas. Again, how they managed to get these rocks from one mountain to another just blows my mind.
Marg and I walked up to visit an old Inca bridge, literally carved into the side of a sheer cliff. You could see where the trail continued for miles past the bridge, following the Urubamba river.
After over 3 hours exploring this mind blowing city, I was dragged kicking and screaming onto the bus to get to Aguascalientes - meaning hot water. We organised a 1.5 hour massage for $25, and I got a little more than I bargained for. We started off with this foot spa (which was just a bucket of hot water, but man it felt good), then my kinky massage therapist got me to lie down on my back. For some reason she felt it was appropriate to massage areas of my body that I am fairly positive did not contribute one bit to my hike. I needn't say more, but I got my $25 worth, that's for sure. Totally relaxed, we jumped on the train to head back to civilisation. It would have been awesome to spend a night in Aguascalientes to sit in the natural hot springs. I met a couple of Irish blokes who had taken the easy option of the train to Machu Picchu, so I gave them a fair bit of crap, then enjoyed the rest of my Inca trail experience.
The night before, Edwin challenged a few of us to stay awake for 24 hours from our 3am wake up til the next morning. I didn't think I'd manage it after 4 full on days hiking, but I was on such a high from seeing Machu Picchu that I was pumped to head out. We downed a few beers at a bar called Mythology, and the people who could salsa tore up the dance floor. Later on they played some decent music and we drank and danced the night away. Some dickhead tried to steal my bag - there were do many dodgy characters just eyeing everyone's bags, but thankfully I caught him with his hand holding onto my bag and I snatched it back. At about 2am, my legs just wouldn't work anymore so I headed back for a huge sleep. That was a day I won't ever forget!
- comments