Our Machu Picchu Adventure

After getting roughly 3 hours of sleep, we were woken up by a rooster cockle doodle dooing in the frigid, damp sunrise. Our little amigo who let us sleep on his porch, who apparently doesn´t sleep, asked us if we wanted to get up to hike Machu Picchu. We just looked at each other and could not believe what had happened the night before. We were so EXHAUSTED from being scammed by our tour, homeless for a couple of hours in a new city, befriended by some Peruvian dudes and overwhelmed by the fact that we were actually in Machu Picchu, the place we have been dreaming about. It was unreal to be lying under those alpaca blankets knowing that we were unbelievably tired but had to rally hardcore because we were in one of the most amazing places on the planet. We could not extend our time bec. there were no hotels, no atms, we already bought our train ticket back to Cuzco and had booked our bus ticket to Puno. The only money we had was what we recovered from the envelope Rich stole back from the ¨buta¨ at the hotel. We got up, muscles aching, feet dragging and told our amigo to store our stuff because we were heading up to Machu Picchu!

Now despite what the guide books or tour companies tell you, Machu Picchu is incredibly expensive and complicated to get to. Thankfully we used our student cards and got a discount on our admission tickets (We technically shouldn´t get one bec we´re not under 25 but we worked it). We tried to get the discount for the bus up there but it wouldn´t work. So including everything the travel and admission we paid over 150 bucks!

Regardless of the cost, once you get up there you realize that it is worth it. Machu Picchu is one of the most beautiful, complicated and ingenious places ever designed by man. It is thousands of feet above sea level from the Urubabma River. It would have taken months just to get up there, let alone bring gigantic boulders to build the city. The Incans built it in complete harmony with nature. First of all it is in a mountainous tropical rainforest surrouned by llamas and alpacas grazing. It is so green and at that high altitude the sky is so blue. In the distance is the gorgeous snow-capped mountain called Salkantay.

Just being there is special, we quickly forgot about the fact that we might not have a place to stay for the night or that we were tired and on a strict budget. We felt energized and explored the Lost Incan City for 5 hours. The weather was perfect. We hiked all over, including the cliff-hanging hike to Wayna Picchu, which has a 360 view of the entire valley. What an amazing and rewarding experience.