Machu Picchu Part 2

This is a very delayed continuation.... but none the less, here it is.

DAY 3:
We woke up early again on day 3 to begin our "short" day of hiking. We were going to climb up for another 3 hours and then..... 3,000 STEPS DOWNHILL. It was actually as bad as it sounds. They were the original steps from the Inca trail too, so a little rough and rocky and with only a little bit of drizzle that day they were wet. It was great though, we were so close to the finish line. We only had to hike to lunch and then we were going to visit some more ruins and then go to bed early for the big day at Machu Picchu.

Before lunch we had the option to go to one set of small ruins that were like 30 more minutes of hiking. At first, we all said no. The 3,000 steps were really hard, but then we came to our senses and went. It was so worth it. GORGEOUS views and ruins.

Llamas wandering around the ruins...

Gorgeous views of the valleys

Our whole group at the end of day 3

Allison, Jess, Eli and I in all of our gear.

After a 30 minute hike to our tents we dropped our bags, ate some lunch and headed out to see more sites. We were close to Machu Picchu so there were a lot more ruins all in this one area to protect Machu Picchu.

If you remember how earlier I was saying how insanely good our food was..... here's a little proof:

After that nice meal we were off to one of the biggest ruin sites on the trail.
How cool is this?

More amazing ruins

Allison and I

Looking out in the valley

Then we started to get a little tired and weird. We were done hiking, it was raining and we were all exhausted!

Singing in the rain in giant ponchos and umbrellas :)

The German boys

So we headed back to the tents, relaxed a bit and went to bed super early because the last day we were waking up at 3:30am. Yep, 3:30. We had to then get in a line (and be the first ones there to get a seat under the covered walk) and wait in line for an hour. Then hike for 1 more hour and go over "the last gringa killer", a set of very scary, scary steep stairs that you used your hands to climb and then..... We reached the Sun Gate!!!

The Sun Gate is the official entrance in to Machu Picchu and supposed you can see the sun rise through it, but it was cloudy and foggy so we didn't get the sun, but it did break for just a minute to see MP.

Our whole group at the Sun Gate

We made it!

After that, we had to go get our tickets stamped and check our bags, then we were in. We finally made it! It felt so, so good! And it felt so good that we had hiked it. We did it.

We had a 2 hour tour with our guide..... I will be honest we sat in the grass for 30 minutes and I fell asleep for part of it. I was just so tired! About 5 other people did the same so I didn't feel so bad.

Temples in Machu Picchu

Following our tour, we were off to guess what...... hike again!!! A few of us had signed up to do Wayinpicchu, the smaller mountain beside MP that gives you amazing views, but it is very steep and scary to do. Good news, it only took about an hour.

Bri and I were a bit worried about hiking again....

Views of MP from Waynapicchu

More MP Views

Once we came back down and met up with everyone it was time for the traditional Machu Picchu photo shoot... and we had fun with it. Here were my favorites.....

Jumping pic..... on the first try too.

Llama sock pics

Looking over MP

Abuela pic

We were there from 6am - 4pm and it was amazing. Every second of it. It got better as the day went on because most people didn't stay that long so by the end of the day it was not nearly as crowded. It really is one of the wonders of the world and just amazing. I want to go back!!

At the end of the day, we loaded up and took the bus down to Agua Calientes, the small town at the bottom of the mountian, ate some yummy local food and hopped on the train back to Cusco.

Exhausted, really smelly and wet, but all in all it was by far one of the most amazing things that I have ever done.