Machu Picchu

We made it to Machu Picchu after our 3 days of hiking. It is quite dramatic, as on the fourth day we all got up at four in the morning, in the pitch black to hike the last couple hours to arrive at the sun gate for sun rise.

Our guide was a keener, so we were among the first to make it to the sun gate, which was good, as it filled up with tourists rather quickly. We got our picture and moved on. The ruins appeared and disapeared through a dense fog bank throughout the morning.



Leanna had to push 8 tourists off this rock in order to get this picture. They fell several meters to their deaths.

On the other side of Machu Picchu, which means old mountain (I think) is Huayna Picchu, which means young mountain. There are more Inca stairs which climb 300 meters to the peak for another view of Machu Picchu. After the Inca Trail, most people give it a pass, but I figured what the heck, and climbed it with Gita, a woman we met on the trail. Meanwhile Leanna got lost in the ruins, sat on an altar and watched the lizards.