Once they did we were in! You walk down a path and start to see a few ruins. Since our goal that morning was to see the sunrise we started hiking even higher. Finally we came pretty close to the top of the side we were on and turned down another path. The view of the citadel was breathtakingly stunning. Never in my life have I seen something so amazing.
We just sat for quite awhile taking it in and we were in the first top ten people up there so it was nice and quite. Very different from mid afternoon we would later learn. It was freezing but we spent a good amount of time wandering and taking pictures. Sadly the sunrise was blocked by a bit of cloud cover but it was still beautiful to watch it creep over adjacent mountains.
We had some issues meeting up with our guide partly because he was calling what we thought was eddy and for only 2. Who knew that was supposed to be Chelsey Reddy for 3... After we figured it out we started on the most enthusiastic tour of the ruins and the citadel. We learned so much about the Incas and Machu Picchu, and honestly it is crazy the skill it took to build that place.
After our tour we hiked to the sun gate which is where the traditional Incan trail meets with Machu Picchu and explored the Incan bridge which wasn't a bridge at all but a tiny ledge on a cliff. You couldn't get to close but we took pictures.
Then we just layed around and absorbed our environment for an hour or so until all the crowds got to be too much. Not to mention it was going 3 and we had been up since 4. We were starving after our day because we hadn't wanted to stop at all even for food. It started pouring rain as we pulled into Auguas Calientes which was not caliente it was actually very cold. We ran to a restaurant we had been recommended and had a great dinner.
That night we were so tired and we were laughing at everything while just laying in bed reading. Lizzy and Lauren went on a junk food run and we spent the remainder of our night sampling peruvian cookies and eating doritos. Our night lasted only till about eight.
This morning we woke up at 4 again and did the same routine except this times when we got to Machu Picchu we stayed on the lower level. We killed some time playing with the alpacas that roam the city and attempted some photos. Then we got in line for Huayna Picchu. We were only behind two girls from Nebraska and got to talk with them till the trail opened at 7. So background on Huayna Picchu. It is the large green mountain you see in all the typical Machu pictures, it supposedly takes an hour, and is completely vertical in most sections.
Long story short and quite a few coca leaves later (you chew coca leave to help with the altitude) we were the first three people to the very top this morning and we did it in 30 minutes. Not to brag or anything :)
The views were stunning and there were residual clouds around from the rain the night before. We sat there for awhile till anybody else showed up and just really took in. We got some awesome pictures as well! Then we continued the hike around the mountain to a cavern on the bottom. It was pretty sweet and you could tell it was used for religious ceremonies. The problem we didn't think about was that we hadn't only hiked down Huayna Picchu to get there but we hiked far past the level of Machu Picchu. This invloved for uphill trekking and after this morning we our legs we dead. Some how we made it back and finished the entire route! We felt so accomplished.
We had lunch and spent some time just sitting at the ruins. Then we hopped on the bus back to Auguas Calientes, got our bags from our hostel, bought food for the train, sat in a cafe, and window shopped the markets. Now we are sitting on the train to take us back to Cusco and we are staying at Pariwana hostel again. Its a long ride and hopefully its not as shakey as last time.
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