Machu Picchu

Up at 3:30, we all met at the main square at 4:00 and started the hike up to Machu Picchu. You can also take buses, but they don't start leaving until 5:30, and odds are you'll get up there too late to get a pass to Huayna Picchu.It's a steep climb and really hard on my feet. After 4 days of trekking, they were screaming "leave me alone!". The hike up also included lots and lots of stairs, which are very exhausting.We got the entrance gate about 5:15, and waited outside. The site doesn't open until 6:00. When I arrived, there were maybe 25 other people waiting as well. As we waited, more hikers were showing up. Around 5:40, one of the workers started handing out tickets to Huayna Picchu. They only allow 400 people every day, 200 at 7:00am and another 200 at 10:00am. Our guide told us we have to take the 10:00am time slot, so we could do our guided tour of Machu Picchu with him. We got our 10:00 time slot no problem, then exited the line and waited with the rest of our group for our guide. Shortly before 6:00 the buses started showing up, out guide was one of the first ones. At 6:00, the gates opened, we waited for the line to clear a bit before getting in line. One other couple from our group took the bus as well (he had injured his knee yesterday during the hike), and they ended up getting passes to Huayna Picchu anyway, so we didn't need to be in that big of a hurry.We got back in line, and ahead of us was this old lady from the other group. She just asked her guide if she should climb Huayna Picchu, and he told her no, not to do it. A second later, the dude handing out tickets to Huayna Picchu had ONE PASS LEFT. He was going down the line, trying to get rid of it. She stuck out her entrace pass and said she'd take it. A moment later, another guy came up and wanted it. She took the LAST HUAYNA PICCHU PASS, despite her complete inability to trek, and just after her guide told her not to, taking it away from this other guy, who wanted to go up with is buddy, who had a pass.Cesar (our guide) took us on a 2+ hour tour of Machu Picchu, showing us everything important, explaining how the Incans broke apart the stones and how they had engineered the water systems, and how they knew about astronomy, and they had designed buildings and windows so the sun would shine through at the just the right angle during summer and winter solstices, etc. Very interesting.At about 10:30, we headed for the Huayna Picchu entrance gate and did the very difficult and steep hike up Huayna Picchu. It gives some amazing views of the Machu Piccu and the surrounding mountains and valleys.We hung out on top for a bit, then back down and hiked up to the Sun Gate. There were 8 official entrances to Machu Picchu back in the day. The Inca Trail that everyone hikes is one of them. The Inca Trail comes up over this pass, at a gate called the Sun Gate, then down to Machu Picchu. The people doing the Inca Trail don't get to see Machu Picchu until the last day, when the come over the pass and pass through the Sun Gate. And, let me tell you, the view from the Sun Gate, looking down at Machu Picchu, is amazing.After the Sun Gate, about 2:30, I decided to make the hike back down to Aguas Caliente. Lisa and Kieran wanted to rest their weary legs for half an hour before heading down. I headed down, went back to the hostal where our bags were stored and had a shower at the hostal (cost me 10 soles!), then picked up our train tickets, and met Lisa and Kieran shortly after 4:00 and we went to a restaurant for expensive pizza, but were famished.We headed to the train station at 5:40 for our 6:10 train to Ollantay, where we got off and got on a bus back to Cusco. Got back to Cusco about 10:00pm. Lisa and me headed back to the hostal, checked in and went to bed.Machu Picchu didn't disappoint. I had two highlights on my South America trip, Galapagos was top of the list, with Machu Picchu second. Both the Galapagos and Machu Picchu were way beyond my expectations. What a way to start the trip (Galapagos) and a way to end the trip (Machu Picchu).If I were to recommend Machu Picchu treks, I would recommend doing the Inca Trail, not Salkantay. Salkantay isn't as much of a trek, as there's bus travel during parts, and you're staying in towns and hostals for part of it. During the Inca Trail, you're taking an actual trail, built from stone by the Incans hundreds of years ago, into one of the official entrance gates of Machu Picchu at the time. It would be awesome to come over the pass at the Sun Gate and see Machu Picchu in front of you. The stone path needs to be maintained nowadays, but it was discovered after Machu Picchu was discovered. Unfortunately, you need to book it months in advance, which is not necessarily possible when one is travelling for a year....you simply won't know where or when you'll be there. That's not to say I didn't enjoy Salkantay, it was very good, but it would be way cooler to get to Machu Picchu the way the Incans did.