Our wake up call came at 5:30am while Rumwaldo and Julian were busy cooking up our last breakfast of the Inca Trail Tour. After 4 days of hiking, I really felt like sleeping extra. I passed on the early morning tea, offered at 5am, and went straight for the coffee an hour later. I made it to the mess tent just in time to grab 2 slices of french toast Alex had set aside for me. How nice! Boy, was it ever delicious!
Everybody was very excited to be seeing the Machu Picchu ruins. I was too, but I couldn’t believe the big trek was over! On the one hand, I was sad to be leaving the Sacred Valley. However, on the other hand, I was looking forward to a hot shower and a bed back in Cusco.
In any event, we caught the bus to Machu Picchu at 6:40am and I tried to catch a few last moments of sleep as it wound it’s way up the hillside. The switchbacks were very tight, and I marvelled at the bus driver’s skill.
Carlos met us at the ruins and we began out tour. It was the moment we had all been waiting for! We started at the bottom of the vast ruins and worked our way up.
First was a fountain dedicated to the water god. We then saw a reconstructed Inca building with a thatch roof. I imagined what the site looked like when all the building had roofs, I bet it was even more amazing. We saw a shrine and an area for community ceremonies. There was a hitching post to the heavens and a condor shaped stone with an underworld temple underneath. In the underworld temple, a smooth stone alter. Later, in the agriculture center, we saw where they kept their livestock. We concluded the tour at the communal living quarters. At around 10am, we were set free to wander. Carlos disappeared, while we all headed to the bathrooms and lunch.
During lunch, Carlos reappeared briefly to find out what we were thinking of doing the next day, back in Cusco. He helped to arrange a river rafting trip for some of the Brits, but there was only enough room for 5 people so Brenda and I weren’t included. We weren’t miffed about being excluded because we were already thinking a rest day was in order. But, I still thought it was odd.
After lunch, we went back in the park, and a group of us hiked to the Inca Bridge. It was a short hike, probably no more than 3 miles. The bridge is amazing, though, and worth the excursion. It is constructed in harmony with, and butts up against, a very high cliff, several hundred feet high. Below the bridge, steep jungle drops off several hundred feet downward!
There were cracks all over the face of this cliff, but one in particular caught our attention. We wished we could climb it, but knew it was probably way off limits.
After the Inca Bridge, we decided to do some bouldering at an undisclosed location. Brenda picked a line and we joined in afterwards. Alex tried bouldering for the first time and we gave him a few pointers. Ciaran joined in too. It was super fun, until I got a very huge flapper on my ring finger. Time to stop, I suppose! We whipped out the first aid and in a jiff it was wrapped up with neo-to-go. It hurt like a mofo, but I didn’t care…it was so awesome to be bouldering in Peru!
Back in Aguas Calientes; Brenda, Alex, Fiona, and I had a snack at a cafe. There was a band outside the cafe playing traditional local music. The vendor wandered through the cafe selling cds and Brenda bought one for a steal. We stopped off at an internet cafe and then met the rest of the tour folks back at the pizza place Carlos had recommended. After the late lunch, we walked to the train station and got onboard just in time.
Brenda and I had seats sitting backward, so we just stared out the window at the scenery. At Ollantaytambo, a bunch of people got off the train and I got a whole row of seats to myself. I fell asleep and had a pretty nice nap.
We got to the train stop about 45 minutes outside of Cusco, at 9:15pm. We fought through crowds to get to our bus, things were a little hectic until we boarded the bus. I fell asleep again.
We arrived at our hotel, in Cuzco at 10:30pm. I took a shower and washed my hair. The shower was awesome. Around midnight, I disappeared under the cozy sheets of my bed and I slept like a log for about 7 hours.
Tags: Bouldering, Exodus Tour, Hiking, Inca Bridge, Machu Picchu, Peru