Surround yourself with the dreamers and the doers, the believers and the thinkers, but most of all, surround yourself with those who see the greatness within you, even when you don't see it yourself. – Edmund Lee
Friday, March 8, 2013 (DAY 369 - 371)
It’s 4:30am and I’m awake and ready to explore the famed Machu Picchu! In spite of the cold morning temperatures, we knew that the first shuttle left at 5:30am and we wanted to be waiting at the bus stop no later than 5am, which I’m glad we did, because within minutes the line behind us stretched further up the road than I could see. For the first time it feels like in Latin America the buses were ready to leave on time and we were on the very first one headed up the hill for the twenty-minute ride to the Inca site. As we were winding through the mountain roads it was still dark out, but as we arrived you could begin to see the sun peaking up over the ridgeline of the Andes and I couldn’t help but think how incredible this experience has been.
It’s 4:30am and I’m awake and ready to explore the famed Machu Picchu! In spite of the cold morning temperatures, we knew that the first shuttle left at 5:30am and we wanted to be waiting at the bus stop no later than 5am, which I’m glad we did, because within minutes the line behind us stretched further up the road than I could see. For the first time it feels like in Latin America the buses were ready to leave on time and we were on the very first one headed up the hill for the twenty-minute ride to the Inca site. As we were winding through the mountain roads it was still dark out, but as we arrived you could begin to see the sun peaking up over the ridgeline of the Andes and I couldn’t help but think how incredible this experience has been.
Lining up behind just a handful of other people I was guessing that we were one of the first 50 people inside Machu Picchu. Since there are several paths that you can choose to take upon entering we decided to head upwards to collect the very stereotypical photo of the site just below you before the hordes of tourists are seen below walking around. Char needed motivation to climb the rock stairway but after yelling insults, throwing rocks at her, and numerous five-finger slaps to the face, she was a trooper even through all the tears. Nice job champ.
Since this site is much more condensed in area than Tikal in Guatemala by 7:30am you couldn’t walk around a narrow corner without running in to at least a dozen other people and so we figured that after 3-hours of exploring we were exhausted. And that even included lying down and taking a short nap on the famed 15th Century UNESCO World Heritage Site. By the time we returned to Aguas Calientes, the town closest to Machu Picchu, a large breakfast was in order followed by a relaxing afternoon lounging in the hot springs before our 5:30pm train and then shuttle back to Cusco. Arriving in Cusco just before 10pm it was time to crash out and sleep for at least 12-hours, since the past week was anything but a 6-hour night’s rest with all of this moving around. My next few days before returning to Lima were spent exploring the town, taking photos, and purchasing my new traveling companions Ian Hobbs (the tiger) and Ward Moorehead (the wily monkey), thanks in part to peer pressure from Josh and Breean. Oh the adventures these finger puppets have had and will yet to experience.
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