We woke early, about 3:40, and started getting ready. Ryan and I were dressed and headed to the bathrooms. We passed the closer ones where the night before we used them and the door didn't lock and Ryan held the door shut for me and opted to try the ones in the restaraunt, they were gross! They were real toilets but with no seats, and smeared with poop. It was pretty disgusting.
We headed back to camp, got our things out of the tent, had breakfast (nothing big, just biscuits, honey and tea) and they gave us a snack of cookies, a cheese sandwich, and juice. Cesar had just woken up but he pointed us in the direction of the trail/checkpoint and our group joined the line that had already started. The checkpoint opened at 5:30 and once our group was through, Ryan Betina, Franzesca and I went hiking ahead as fast as we could, passing slower people until we reached a clog where the hikers werne't moving over for us. The trail was similar to yesterday, with some steps, winding traversley across the mountain. At the end of the trail there were 50 steps, they were really short and steep, and we didn't slow down for them at all! I kept hoping Ryan or Franzesca would stop or slow down because they were ahead of me and Betina, but they didn't, and I wasn't going to get left behind!
Right after the steps we arrived at Intipunku, the Sun Gate. Very few people were there before us and once you walked through the stone building you could see Machu Picchu in the distance! We took a few pictures and then climbed up to the side to wait for the rest of the group as it was getting more and more crowded as more people arrived. Our whole group was there around 6:30/6:45 (we arrived about 6:15) and we rested for a minute until we continued the trail to the entrance of Machu Picchu. Again we took pictures and walked around while we waited for the group, then we all headed down to the main entrance. We had our permits stamped, and then Ryan had to check his bag, we regrouped, passed some men who were smoking which isn't allowed, and Cesar led us on our walking tour.
First we sat on the terraces and learned how Machu Picchu was discovered, and then headed to the water temple. The water temple, sun temple, and mausoleum (Inca tomb) are all located together forming a trifecta of water, sun and earth. The sun temple was being excavated because they recently discovered more pottery in a channel behind the main room. From there we saw the temple with 3 windows, and rocks from the main quarry, proving Machu Picchu hadn't been finished when the Incan civilization died. We climbed to the highest point where a sun dial was carved out of the bedrock. The Incas used the angle of the dial to build the residential section so there was always daylight in their homes in the mornings and afternoons. In one room we talked about how people walking and earthquakes have made some of the stones settle over time. Betina laughed at a lizard high on the wall and Cesar got mad that we weren't paying attentino. So he had her demonstrate how standing with your feet apart makes you more stable than feet together, which is why the walls are angled in, to prevent structural damage from earthquakes.
We got our passes for the bus to Aguas Calientes, and Ryan and I ate our cheese sandwiches and then decided not to do another 1.5 hour round trip hike to a watchtower/grainery on a peak overlooking Machu Picchu because we were low on water and feeling pretty tired. Plus we wanted to enjoy the time we had at Machu Picchu looking at it. We wandered around for awhile looking for a quiet shady place, and ended up in a nook under a huge rock overhang. There were 3 large semi-circle pits, and a passing tour guide wandered past and explained to another woman that they found bodies curled in the fetal position lying in them surrounded by pottery. So they were essentially tombs.
After awhile we decided to leave and take the bus to Aguas Calientes. We found our way out of the maze of buildings and to the exit, and retrieved Ryan's bag. He wanted to use the bathroom so he paid his soles and apparently it was crazy inside. It was both men's and women's with the sinks splitting it down the middle, but the women were using both sides and Ryan had to wait to wash his hands because small school children where bathing themselves in the sinks!
We ran into Tom and Sylgie but they said to let Cesar know they wouldn't make the 1:00 meeting time because Tom wasn't feeling well, but they would make the 2:30 train to Ollantaytambo. We took the bus down about a million switchbacks, while Ryan met a family from Salt Lake City. When we arrived at Aguas Calientes, we st on a bench near the Urubamba River and watched the rapids until it was time to meet the group at a restaurant called PachaMama.
There were 3 toddlers playing int he main street where the buses pulled up, and more children playing int he train tracks. Aguas Calientes was a really small town, but very cute and touristy. It reminded me more of a European mountain town, just without snow. We had more cusquena negro and shared a small pizza. Peru has an amazing amount of pizza places! Our duffel bags were upstairs, so we gathered our things and left for the train station. Ryan was our porter and carryed the duffel bags and I had the camera and water. Ryan changed from his boots to sandals outside the station and I used the bathroom inside. He had a red rask on his ankles that burned so he wanted to de-boot as soon as possible.
The bathroom inside was the nicest I'd seen in Peru so far! The toilets were clean and inside full wooden stalls, the walls were nice blue and white tile and there was soap and paper towels to dry your hands!
We boarded the train and I switched spots with Franzisca so I could sit next to Ryan. Betina and Cesar were across from us. We started out, and just after the train passed through a tunnel the train engine broke down and we had to sit on the tracks while they fixed it. It took about two hours to get back to Ollantaytambo, adn we amused ourselves by making fun of the people sleeping. Ryan fell asleep and his head would slowly lower to his chest, then he'd snap it back up straight, then it would all start over again. Cesar thought this was all hilarious.
Once we got to Ollantaytambo we loaded back onto a Mercedes bus and started a 2 hour bus ride back to our hotel in Cusco. The ride was pretty, different than the ride to Ollantaytambo when we traveled through the Sacred Valley. This ride was across the Andean Highlands, and we passed more farmland, and saw some more snow mountains.
When we got back to our hotel we got our room key and headed upstairs to get our laundry so we could drop it off to be washed. We got our luggage from the storage check and brought it upstairs. Our room was on the 4th floor and climbing the stairs still made me our of breath. Once upstairs we still had to bring our red duffels back down so I went down the stairs while Ryan jumped in the shower. This time our room was on the opposite side of the hotel and I think it was newer or remodeled because our room was nicer. It still had one double bed and one single, but the bathroom was bigger and looked newly tiled. The only downside was instead of a Cusco view our window opened onto the hotel courtyard and all the voices of people talking echoed upstairs.
Ryan finished showering, I showered, and we met the group at 7:45 for dinner. We put together a tip for Cesar, and went to meet him at a restaurant called Marcela Batata which was about a block behind the cathedral. At first we walked past it because we missed the sign but then we found it, and the rest of the group had beaten us there, probably because we got lost and stopped to use the ATM to get another 300 soles each. Cesar wasn't there yet so we ordered drinks, more cusquena negro, and waited for him. The place was really nice and modern, with long black tables and red and white walls. Ryan and Sebastian (and Tom except he was sick) had Cesar call ahead to order cuye (guinea pig) and it was ready so they brought it out.
The whole guinea pig was on the plate with a carrot in its mouth. They let us take pictures with it and then took it back to cut off the head and quarter it. There's a tradition of eating the brains and then finding a certain bone for good luck, but they kept the head. Everyone tried it, and the consensus was that it was good, just like rabbit or the dark meat of a chicken.
Jill took the paw of Sebastian's cuye and pretended it was her hand, and Sebastian pretended to claw Stephanie with it. It took Ryan about 45 minutes to eat through it because you have to eat it with your hands and there was a lot of meat. It was also served with a deep fried stuffed potato and more fried potatoes. I had meatballs stuffed with bacon and pasta, it was good but nowhere was ceremonial as the cuye, which is usually eaten at times of celebration like weddings or births.
After dinner we were exhausted but Jill gave Cesar his tip and we said goodbye. It was pouring rain on the walk home and I was very glad we brought our rain jackets. Once we were near the hotel we realized we had walked a block too far and we had to cut around the block. We said goodbye to Kim and Katherine and headed to our room and we fell right asleep.
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