Machu Picchu
Well we came, we saw and we conquered! Well, at least Matt and Autumn can say they did (after treking up hundreds of step steps to get to Machu Picchu), but alas I am too unfit so took the lame way out and took the bus haha! I´m glad I did though, because Autumn and Matt were exhausted and drenched by the time they got to the top.
Due to waiting for a bus for an hour I had the great fortune of meeting a lovely lady called Carmen, from Argentina. However, it seemed to be unfortunate for Carmen, because somehow while we were chatting her purse was stolen. Luckily, it only had dollars in it, so she still had her credit cards, and she still had cash elsewhere on her.
So the newly formed team of four made it through the ticket gate. It was raining hard and the clouds were low. We emerged atop Machu Picchu and lo and behold we saw... nothing.
We were so disappointed.
After about ten mintues of us standing and feeling dejected, (after all we were up at 4.45am to see the sunrise over Machu Picchu - which technically we still would have missed as we all didn´t arrive til 7am, but enough of that.) the clouds began to float slowly about or disipate and we began to see parts of Machu Picchu.
Imagine our faces then!! Half an hour later the view was incredible, still overcast, but we were so pleased to be able to see it properly. By lunchtime the sun was really hot and the clouds had disappeared, it was beautiful.
We walked around most of the sight, and Matt had a funny hour where he left us girlies soaking up the ambience and of course, the sun whilst he ran up the mountain. It looked too steep for us to contemplate and we were happy enough to see the sights from where we were.
Unfortunately around 10ish the masses came. Like little ants crawling over everything. It was the only horrible part of the experience (not counting Autumn receiving no change from her money at the ticket gate, and Carmen´s stolen wallet). People were everywhere, and the gorgeous silence and spell of the morning were broken.
We didn´t hire a tour guide, which in hindsight perhaps we should have done, however later in the day there was always a tour near enough to glean what was what. That is, of course, if they knew what was what, which it has to be said, most of them did not.
We left in the afternoon, wlaking down the way Matt and Autumn came up. It was gorgeous, like a mini-jungle, but not good enough for Matt and Autumn who decided they would run down the mountain (after some other crazy American´s hared past). So Carmen and I took it easy and waited for them at the bottom! (They ran down the road so it was much longer for them).
If you want to see some photos Matt´s just updated his Peru photo page. Unfortunately Machu Picchu isn´t there yet, but hopefully soon!
Due to waiting for a bus for an hour I had the great fortune of meeting a lovely lady called Carmen, from Argentina. However, it seemed to be unfortunate for Carmen, because somehow while we were chatting her purse was stolen. Luckily, it only had dollars in it, so she still had her credit cards, and she still had cash elsewhere on her.
So the newly formed team of four made it through the ticket gate. It was raining hard and the clouds were low. We emerged atop Machu Picchu and lo and behold we saw... nothing.
We were so disappointed.
After about ten mintues of us standing and feeling dejected, (after all we were up at 4.45am to see the sunrise over Machu Picchu - which technically we still would have missed as we all didn´t arrive til 7am, but enough of that.) the clouds began to float slowly about or disipate and we began to see parts of Machu Picchu.
Imagine our faces then!! Half an hour later the view was incredible, still overcast, but we were so pleased to be able to see it properly. By lunchtime the sun was really hot and the clouds had disappeared, it was beautiful.
We walked around most of the sight, and Matt had a funny hour where he left us girlies soaking up the ambience and of course, the sun whilst he ran up the mountain. It looked too steep for us to contemplate and we were happy enough to see the sights from where we were.
Unfortunately around 10ish the masses came. Like little ants crawling over everything. It was the only horrible part of the experience (not counting Autumn receiving no change from her money at the ticket gate, and Carmen´s stolen wallet). People were everywhere, and the gorgeous silence and spell of the morning were broken.
We didn´t hire a tour guide, which in hindsight perhaps we should have done, however later in the day there was always a tour near enough to glean what was what. That is, of course, if they knew what was what, which it has to be said, most of them did not.
We left in the afternoon, wlaking down the way Matt and Autumn came up. It was gorgeous, like a mini-jungle, but not good enough for Matt and Autumn who decided they would run down the mountain (after some other crazy American´s hared past). So Carmen and I took it easy and waited for them at the bottom! (They ran down the road so it was much longer for them).
If you want to see some photos Matt´s just updated his Peru photo page. Unfortunately Machu Picchu isn´t there yet, but hopefully soon!
posted by Suzie at 17:20
2 Comments:
So glad you got there early and saw it before the masses came. I've been reading that the mountain behind Machu Pichu was thought of as a face looking up to God and the highest peak was the nose. It's obvious when it's pointed out to you.
Absolutely. I didn't notice it at the time, but after I'd read about the area (once we'd seen it of course, I should have done it the other way around) it seems obvious that the Incas saw something in the environment that I didn't. Stunningly beautiful.
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