Got up at 3:30 and
had a quick pack up and a simple breakfast of toast and jam and
caramel with tea and hot chocolate. I asked Marco how he slept and if
the cook and porters were happy. He said the cook was. As we talked
the night before for a long time, read the brochure and it said the
porters expected about s/60 each, the cook about double, and the
guides were up to us. We decided on s/70 each porter, s/200 for the
cook, as the food was fantastic, and we ended up tipping the guides
about s/450 each. I didn't tell anyone about our talk until much
later b/c I didn't want to spoil their experience of Macchu Picchu,
but not being from the country, no idea how to tip, not my currency,
if they weren't going to be happy, then change the brochure! I asked
Marco also why they were not happy, how much they usually receive. He
said s/80-90. Put that in the brochure instead of s/60! Sorry
porters!
Anyways, once we
finished breakfast, we headed out, about a 5 minute hike to the
checkpoint to wait for about an hour and a half for the gate to open.
Kelly started a game where you pick a word and have to sing a song
having to do with the word. First word, Sun, it went around a few
times, and I won the round. Second, girl. Valerie won after a few
passes. We did a third round, cars. The word car, truck, or any
specific car or truck model could be in the song. We went around a
few times, then quit b/c the gate opened. We went through, and hiked
for about an hour or so in the dark with headlamps and watched the
sun come up in the Sacred Valley until we reached the Sun Gate and
got our first look at Macchu Picchu. It was amazing and so beautiful,
so big. Compared to the other ruins we saw, we were overwhelmed at
the size, placement, and how much of it was intact. The hike from the
Sun Gate to the entrance was still a ½ hour, so we went down, took
some group photos, lots of individual photos for sure and went
through the ticketing process to get in. A lot of us were glad to see
a toilet for the first time in a few days that you didn't have to
squat in. I was feeling a bit bittersweet at that point, as there
were droves of “train people” arriving. People that just took the
train up, looking all clean and poser-y. I couldn't help but look
down on them and felt like I/we deserved Macchu Picchu more. But the
1st hour was still ok. Marco gave us our last tour in M.P.
And we were free to walk around the ruins on our own. It was
unbelievable, so cool. A few from the group left early to climb Huana
Picchu, the large, steep mountain offering a different overlook to
M.P. Me, Mark, Branwen and Alex finished looking around and caught
the bus to Aguas Calientes where we were to meet for lunch with the
group, tip the guides and get on the train back to Cusco. Beer never
tasted so good, we had 2 each before most the group arrived, said
some goodbyes, exchanged contact info, and headed out. We got on the
train and Mark and I sat by an Australian and his Peruvian wife
Carina and Dmetri. They were cool, and put up with our half drunk
asses. We had a few more beers on the train and chatted with them.
What a beautiful ride. Rocks 5 times as big as cars lining the
flowing river most the way. We got off the train and switched to the
Llama Path bus for the 2 hour bus ride back to Cusco. We used the
bano quickly and met back at the bus.
After several
minutes waiting, we were missing Alex, so we sent out a small search
party and no one could find him. The town was tiny, we decided he
must have gotten on a different bus or something, so we began to head
out. On the way out of town, we spotted him and picked him up. He had
missed the station and gotten lost. I slept the whole bus ride and we
dropped off some of the other group that was splitting the bus with
us. Courtney immediately perks up saying how big of assholes they
were, talking about how we should have left Alex and how bad we
smelled, etc. We all said we wished she would have said something
earlier so we could have called them out, but too late now. We got
back to the hotel we had stayed at previously and had left some of
our stuff there. I immediately took a nap and Mark showered. When
he came back to the room, he could finally smell what everyone else
could for the last couple days. We stunk, he aired out the room and
suggested I shower. I fought it until it got so cold in the room from
the door being open that it woke me up and I stood in the shower so
long just enjoying hot water rushing over my body. I smelled the
smell when I went back to the room as well. It was rank. We got ready
and went out to the bar where we met some of our hiking group to
celebrate. It was an Irish pub off the square called Paddy's Pub,
“the highest (elevation) 100% Irish owned bar in the world”
I had 1 beer, 2 waters and a shepherd's pie. Solenn had met up with a
couple of her friends, we talked and drank and enjoyed each other's
company.
Courtney, Mary,
Kelly and Lindsay took off around 11:30. I called it a night around
12. I was tired and still not 100% after drinks earlier in the
restaurant and the train. So I went back to the hotel and to bed.
Mark stayed out until about 4, partying with Solenn, whose flight was
at 7, she didn't go to bed, stayed out dancing with Alex and Branwen
dancing at Mama Africa in Cusco, a “dodgy” nightclub according to
Alex. Dodgy is the American equivalent of sketchy. I'm gonna steal
it.
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