Today we woke up at 3 am to catch our ride to Machu Picchu! In the cold and the dark, we boarded a large van that took us an hour and a half to a town called Ollantaytambo. There we boarded a train and continued on to the town of Aguas Calientes. Aguas Calientes is the city at the bottom of the valley below Machu Picchu. We then boarded one more bus to take us the final leg of the journey from the bottom of the valley to the entrance of Machu Picchu.
Once we passed through the gate of Machu Picchu, our tour guide began leading the group to all the perfect picture spots. The views were breath-taking, not only of the ruins but also the mountains surrounding Machu Picchu. We took no less than 1000 pictures: individually, in small groups, the whole group, with the Michigan flag, without the Michigan flag… After explaining the history, our guide left us to begin another tour and we decided to do some more hiking.
We began the ascent to the sun gate, which was once one of the main entrances to Machu Picchu. Along the way we ran into several llamas and proceeded to take many “llama selfies.” Slightly out-of-breath we reached the sun gate and were rewarded by more amazing views. We then returned to the ruins and headed in the opposite direction to the Inca bridge (the “secret” entrance to Machu Picchu). During this portion of the hike, some of us (Chris) faced our fear of heights as the path was next to a tall drop-off on the side of the mountain.
By the time we made it to the Inca Bridge, we heard thunder in the distance and could see a storm rolling in. This was not surprising as our guide had told us it rains 200 days out of the year at Machu Picchu. We were lucky enough to get the sun in the morning and capture some great pictures. It began to rain as we made our way through the rest of the ruins and down the 2,400 steps back to Aguas Calientes. Wet and tired we stopped at a restaurant for some food before getting on our train back to Cusco. We arrived back to our host family’s house around 8:30 pm exhausted but satisfied with the amazing excursion.
-Klara Mateju
EGL Family Abroad 