Monday, 5/20/13
Happy Macchu Picchu
Day!
Chad and I woke up
bright-eyed and bushed (tired). We were determined to be the firsts but
expected to at least be in the first 200 to climb to the top.
We made it to the
closed bridge to enter the hour-long path to the top at 4:30. We were the first
two. At 5:00 a.m. the gates opened with about 150 people behind us. We sprinted
through the gate and led the way in the pitch-blackness. We ended up missing
one the shortcuts and soon found ourselves 30th in line. However,
they started dropping like flies due to the steep inclines. We reached the
tippity top after 45 minutes 9th and 10th. Not too
shabby.
Breath-taking. The
views of Macchu Picchu surrounded by Macchu Picchu and fog was spectacular.
Chad and I hopped into the park to take pictures and casually decided to join
our tour an hour later. Glad we did, because after about 30 minutes, it was
impossible to take pics without others in the view. We saw a llama.
We wandered in and
out of temples, temples, and more temples. Half of it was interesting, half of
the information had to be interpreted as important to avoid falling asleep on
the sundials.
We left extremely
content and impressed. We returned down the mountain with our newfound friend
Su Hyun. We kept running into each other the whole day and still plan on
traveling together to Puno. After the 30 minute run down, we headed to a
restaurant, took off shoes to relieve the pain, and ate like kings. We returned
on the train and saved 2 hours.
The 7-hour ride back
was pretty awful. But we survived thanks to our fantastic driver. I saw some of
the other drivers. I would have been terrified to be in their rides.
**Keep
adventurizing!...I know I will!**
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