If I had to pinch myself to realize the fact that I pedaled my ass to Cusco, what do I need to do standing in the midst of Machu Picchu?
I don't have much to say to that - but here it is M.P. (my initials as well, in case you haven't noticed):
The lower gate opens at 5am, the actual entrance to M.P. which is an hour and a half hike climbing up the steep mountain, at 6am. There are busses (they must have been brought in by train) shuttling visitors from Aqua Calientes to the main gate -a 20 minute ride for $19. (BTW the train ride from Cusco to A.C. round trip costs $200. The actual ticket to the magical sight varies, depending which mountains in the area you want to climb - but basically around $50)
So, we were up on our feet at 4:30am ready with our headlights tackling the crowd (already), standing in line at the first gate and hustling up to -hopefully- see the sun rise. James and I were too early at the second gate and had to stand around and wait - not my strong side.....oh well. The magic of the place and the surroundings were apparent already when we started hiking on the rail way the day before and before reaching A.Calientes.
The big tourist busses arrived a little before 6am at the main gate and I felt a slight panic creeping up....I felt selfish enough to think I could only enjoy this place with less people, but I learned that this place swallows them up, deludes the crowds and the magic stays dominant. The mountains play the tune- they rule- no matter what! Even if you can't see the sun rise, the light is magic, the mountains are magic, the air......all of it!! I don't think there are any mountains in this world looking and feeling like that when you stand in the midst of them.
We climbed Mt Machu Picchu and were rewarded with the highest look-out of the whole area. It was a hard, hot climb but well worth it! The real high mountain ranges all around and further away kept the dark clouds at bay and the sun started tickling us pink before the morning was done.
It was tropical - the M.P. peak is 3082m high (only)
We each had a back pack with some goodies and munched away while taking it all in - even with a bunch of other people sharing the sight it didn't take away how special this place is. I guess I said that already...I took an overwhelming amount of pictures and there are never enough of them.....but at the end you would have had to be there for it all to really know what it's like.
The descend was painful right off the bat the leg muscles complained and I knew I would have to pay for it the next few days .....who cares....?
The Machu Picchu ruins were crowded down below and we slowly shuffled our way through them after getting off the M.P. mountain. The way this was constructed is mind blowing..
Each rock took three years to form and fit...
Neither my mind nor my body was able -after 12 hours - to take more information in and we headed down again to A.C. on an almost empty trail (all the people seemingly took the expensive bus ride down)-back to the lower gate and straight to the hostal. We found a place to eat that didn't rip us off....walking the steps up and down to the restaurant gave me an idea what the next few days are going to feel like in terms of muscle pain.
The very next day we walked the rail road tracks back and I was surprised to learn that my legs held up just fine. The two and a half hour walk was only two hours because we walked THAT FAST. Out of six people we were only four now, because the german couple did take the train.
A beautiful early morning walk
.....we traced the same way back to Cusco and were lucky enough to catch a much more sane bus driver, but after six hours sitting (nobody puked or looked green!!) my legs COMPLAINED and I couldn't help but hobble through Cusco back to our little Estrellita. Some painful days followed nobody got away without hobbling - at least we had company. No discrimination between old, young, cyclist or not.
M.P. IS THE WINNER!!!!
