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Graeme round the world
Day 25 Tues April 18th, 7am bus ride up to Machu Picchu to avoid all those other pesky tourists. It was very misty so we were worried we may not see it in it's full glory. Learnt all the history of the 300 year Inca rein before the Spanish invasion and the 14 Inca kings and how Machu Picchu was discovered in 1911 by an American historian Hiram Bingham, who sold his pictures of the overgrown city to National Geographic. Machu Picchu is a very special, powerful and spiritual place and so are the Peruvian people who are so proud of their fortunate the clouds cleared by 11am after our tour and then we headed for Wayna Picchu, the taller sister mountain, which had steep steps on the outside of the mountain. I am not great with heights so had to claw my way up there with the help or Joe, Stef and Jill. I got to the top, which was one of the hardest things I have ever done, and had an amazing view of Macchu Picchu, the river and the winding road up to it. Even though it was so scary it was a great achievement to get up there and the views were breathtaking. There was a small tunnel at the top which we squeezed through and then it got even more scary, so the Peruvian guys told me to go down backwards as it got worse, so having achieved my goal of getting up there thought that was a great idea and then made it down in record time. You have to sign your name and time in and down when you start the climb. They said only one person has died, but with the sheer drops I very much doubt that as the Peruvians are not hot on health and safety, but that adds to the experience. A totally amazing day and finished off with guinea pig, which I nearly threw up and a very talented local traditional pan pipe and drumming band, then we went to the salsa club for plenty of cocktails before collapsing into bed :o)
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