The final day we awoke at 4:30am to the sound of rain lightly falling on our tent. It was a quick mad rush to get changed and pack our bags up for the last time. It was pitch black when we made our way to the breakfast hall and although pretty tired, we were both pumped to finally see the sights that we had walked four days. After inhaling a couple of stiff coffees and pancakes we made our way to the gate that gave access to the last few kms of the inca trail, the sun gate and MP.
The sun wasn´t out yet, but we could feel the dense mist and cloud around us and knew that it wasn´t going to be a clear morning. Definitly in a positive mood as we were both pretty stoked that it wasn´t pissing down.
This was the only time we felt crowded on the trail, with all the other groups wating in line to get to be the first to the site after the gate opened at 5:30.
The gate finally opened; the walking pace and mood that we had grown used to over the past four days was no longer with us, and the race to get to the sungate was on. Stragglers were quickly overtaken by the keener trekers, eager to secure a good position to watch the sun rise. We stopped only for a few photos along the way, but like everyone else didn´t know what was up ahead, and didn´t want to be left staring at the back of a fat man´s head instead of the ruins.
After an hour and a half we got to the sungate. We couldn´t see MP at all, and so our trusty guide Hose told us to press on for another twenty minutes to another viewing area directly above the ruins.
Arriving at the ruins it was not just the sites that amazed us.... to sound cheesy it was pretty frickin magical. By no means were we able to see MP in it´s entirety straight away as it was covered in cloud. From the photos above you can probably see that it is on top of a mountain, and the strong winds circulating it force the cloud cover to move quickly over the ruins. This meant that for the first hour of our arrival we were only treated to fleeting glimpses of the site.
By eight in the morning the clouds had dispersed and the blue sky was out for the first time in four days, and Machu Piccu was revealed to us in it´s full glory. Our guide Hose, gave us a two hour tour around the ruins, pointing out the few buildings that historians had been able to correctly identify their purpose of function (as heaps of the buildings are still open to conjecture as to what they were used for).
The tour was over and we were give a few hours to look around by ourselves beforing having to return to the town below. Before going we made the decision to climb Waynaspicchu, despite every logical thought, nerve ending and sense of well being screaming -¨don´t you f$%*îng dare think about climbing Waynapicchu¨ (Waynapicchu is the mountain pictured behind the ruins of MP in photo 4 - a 40 minute climb straight up). We just couldn´t allow the visor wearing, bumb bag toting day trippers get a view of MP that us hardened trekkers couldn´t.
Picture 3 with Richo (souls top) is the view from Waynapicchu, and was a solid reward. If you use your imagination, the ruins are in a shape of a condor, an animal sacred to the Inca´s as it carried their souls to the upper world.
It is the highlight of our trip so far.
Everyone we meet along the way gave lima a hard time, we decided within the first 30 mins of arriving that this was not the case. Mind you we stayed in a lovely part of lima called Miraflores. These shot are off the braodwalk along the coast. There was some great longboarding waves below and magestic paragliders floating alongside the cliff face. Otherwise we spent our time at Burgerking and Birch Carol and Coyle cinema complex, getting a western culture fix...
