I´ve been to Machu Picchu, but it is incredible enough to see more than once! And this time it is a New Seven Wonder of the World. We got up and had breakfast and headed up on the 06:00 train as planned. It takes about half an hour to drive up and it is all switchback mountain roads. We got there and Freddy got my passport stamped. They will do this at MP. I did it last time, but thy have a new stamp now and it is way cooler looking! Guess that came with the seven wonders. don´t know.
We went in and it was so cloudy. It is the rainy season. Every now and again it would clear and you`d get a picture, but a ton have clouds in them. I wasn´t too disappointed since I have plenty from last time when it was sun shinning all day! Freddy and I toured around and he gave me the main tour. He knew I wanted to climb Waynapicchu and he had no desire to do so! So, we parted ways and made a plan to meet up after lunch back in Agus Caliente at a certain restaurant. We spent a few hours in MP together before he left. He left me at the entrance to Waynapicchu. They only let 400 people a day go up. I was No. 55. First, I climbed the smaller mountain, Huchuypicchu. It has some nice views of MP. The trail up is a trail and not too bad. Easily done in like 20 minutes. I was the only one on the way up and for a while up there. I hung out and then I took some self timer photos, which are always interesting. Finally, a Japanese couple came up and I got them to take my picture. After that I headed back down to go climb Waynapicchu. That is a hike!
To get to Waynapicchu, you take the stairs from hell. They are Inca steps, which are not even, and it is straight up. It takes almost an hour to climb up. And it just keeps going. You keep thinking. I´ll be there soon, but no, just more stairs. And then you finally arrive! It has some small terraces and rooms similar to MP. To get to the very top, which of course, was where I was heading, you have to go up a REALLY steep and narrow staircase. It literally required crawling. You couldn´t walk up it. You had to use your hands and your feet. Finally you get to the top and see the sign . . . Waynapicchu 2643 meters (about 1000 meters above MP). But there are these rocks you can climb up above that so here I go. I had run into another tour group on the way up and on the climb up the narrow staircase so we all ended up at the top together and chatted for a while. I patiently waited for the very highest peak to open up and climbed up for a picture. I got this Suoth African couple to take it. And then offered to take thiers. We had been talking for several minutes while I waited on this. They were exhausted from the climb up and said, Yeah, no thanks. You can just take ours sitting here on this rock. No need for us to go any further!
The views were beautiful from up there when the clouds would finally clear. But it was hit or miss. Sparkles, Grace´s traveling tiger, went all these places also and got her picture made there also. I feel confident she is the coolest tiger in school! She has loved traveling with me!! She wants to know where we are going next!
After checking out MP from above, I finally headed back down and finished walking around some more. By this time, I had to catch the bus back to meet Freddy. We met at the restaurant for lunch and then caught the train to Ollantaytambo. Another good day.
Once in Ollantaytambo, our driver, Alberto picked us up. The parking for the train station is about a block away in this fenced area. It is crazy. It was packed with big tour buses and then small buses and vans like ours. As you walked up, all the drivers are yelling "cusco, cusco!" trying to get passengers. Then you just have to wait and let the traffic jam clear before you go. It looked like that game traffic jam we played at Christmas that Adele and them have. I took pictures, but I am not sure how good you can tell from them what a mess it was. Anyway, we finally leave and head back to Cusco. Along the way we did make one pit stop for some Checha.
Checha is corn beer. The Peruvians make it and drink it very strong! It is like moonshine I think more than beer. It looks very thick. You see buildings with a stick by the door like a flagpole with a red plastic bag tied on it and you know they are serving Checha. If the stick is not displayed like a flagpole, then they are not serving. So, we stopped in Yanahuara and had some Checha. We tried the original and then the strawberry flavored, which was much better! The woman at this place showed you how she made it. They boil the corn and then drain it to get the liquid. Freddy said they only let it fermet a few days for tourist. The locals like it to fermet for 5 or 6 days! There was also this traditional Indian game, the frog game. You throw gold coins at a box with holes in it and a gold frog in the middle. you get points for each place and a ton if you hit the frog´s mouth. We played a few times. There were also 3 other locals there playing and drinking grande chechas! WE had our taste and left.
Freddy safely deposited me back at my Cusco hotel and we said our goodbyes. It was a great 4 days! He took great care of me and I loved the royal treatment! After he left, I got organized and tried to figure out if I needed to wash clothes in the sink, go to a laundry or could I make it. I have just enough clean or febreezable clothes to make it to the end! So, I sorted out clean and dirty and worked out my system so the really nasty trail clothes won´t contaminate my clean ones and then headed out to eat. Last meal in cusco was back at Inka Grill. It was good and it was raining so I was going for some comfort food.
Lares Trek and MP turned out to be all I had hoped and I am looking forward to Puno and Lake Titicaca!
