8-09-2011
Woke at three to be one of the first to get to the sun gate. The checkpoint does not open till 5:30 but to be leading on the trail we have to get in the early. We were the second group in the line, had to wait more than an hour for the gates to open, an iPod on speakers kept us awake.
Dashed out of the gate, ran up the Gringo killers ( Jeevan not me, these are steep steps) , huffed and puffed to reach the sun gate, IntiPunku. Jeevan waited at the last stair so that we could go through it together, very sweet of him. There was fog all around on arrival but within minutes it cleared and we got our first view of Machu Picchu. It was a magical moment, three days of walking, early morning wake up, rushed to the place and then to have it all appear before us. Loved it.
Walked our last kilometer to reach the actual site. It was re-discovered and brought to light to the outside world by H. Bingham in 1911(100 year celebrations this year), supposedly the expedition was sponsored by Tiffany's.The Incas lived here between 1450-1540. After loads of pictures and getting our passports stamped we went on a tour of the place. At the temple of the condors we could not help but copy Louis (our guide in Colca canyon). Every time he talked about the condors he would stretch his arms to the side with his wrist extended perpendicularly and make swooshing sound.
We viewed the sun temple, the sacred stone, the sundial, the stone which was a compass and shaped like the Southern cross, the pools of water in which reflections of the sun and moon were looked at, the 32 corner stone and then were left to our own device.
Crazy us, Jeevan and I climbed the Machu Picchu mountain, it was a steep climb, the midday sun made things worse. Along the way, people on the way down kept saying the view was worth the struggle. It was, even on the way there were viewpoints, the site looked gorgeous. From below a flag can be seen at the summit, on getting there we realised it was massive, could knock us over if it got too windy. Getting down was tough, very steep and quite open, at places there was no mountainside to hold on to but again happy we did it. The nice thing is that we both wanted to do it as nobody else in our group wanted to see another stair.
Even managed to squeeze in the Inca bridge before we left . It was a flat walk to the site, it is a bridge in the cliffside made of wooden planks, not allowed to walk on it.
Bus down to Aguascalientes ( meaning hot springs), we met up with the rest of the tour group (community trek and train options). It was like meeting long lost friends and family, everybody was so happy and excited, non stop chatter to the train station.
The train journey was so much fun. First food and drinks and then a fashion show! The fashion show consisted of the Alpaca clothes that were on sale. The carriage was filled with our tour group and we were quite a rowdy bunch. The models were nearly mauled at times.
Tiredness finally caught up and we all snoozed in the bus, the last leg of the journey. Went to sleep in our warm beds filled with happiness.
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