Today was our last day on a 5 day, 50 mile trek through the Andies. We woke up at 330 am, packed our stuff and the 8 of us in our group *Team Puma* started hiking uphill in the dark to Machu Picchu. Why so early you ask? Well, we needed to start our hike at 4am to get there at 530am to wait in a queue until 6am and make sure that we were one of the first 400 people in line. The first 400 people in line get to hike another hour up the famous mountain in the background of all Machu Picchu pictures called Wayna Picchu. Wayna Picchu? Wayna Not? Yeah, I said it.
There is certainly a reason why it is a modern wonder of the world. It is so beautiful and it is just so wonderful to know that the Spanish never put a church on top of their area of worship (not rediscovered until 1911). It is thought that the same people who fled Machu Picchu is the same Incas that were discovered by the Spanish. The way that they hypothosize how these people lived is also pretty cool. They can tell where the mayor lived because it is the only room in the place that has a private bathroom. They also found only mummified bodies in the fetal position (the proper way Incas were buried) instead of scattered bodies so it is not thought that a plague drove them from their homes.
After a great tour through incredibly well maintained ruins, we sat by some llamas and had a snack before our last big hike of the journey-- an hour hike up to the top of Wayna Picchu. It was mostly steps of varying heights and completely surrounded by beauiful views of Machu Picchu and some of the strangest, most jagged and jungle filled mountains I have have ever seen. At the top was gorgeous and sometimes a little nerve-wracking. Some of the steps are quite small and with nothing to hold onto on either side, let´s just say it was some slow going. We met our group at the top on a big and we all shared just about the best Red Label I have ever had.
There is certainly a reason why it is a modern wonder of the world. It is so beautiful and it is just so wonderful to know that the Spanish never put a church on top of their area of worship (not rediscovered until 1911). It is thought that the same people who fled Machu Picchu is the same Incas that were discovered by the Spanish. The way that they hypothosize how these people lived is also pretty cool. They can tell where the mayor lived because it is the only room in the place that has a private bathroom. They also found only mummified bodies in the fetal position (the proper way Incas were buried) instead of scattered bodies so it is not thought that a plague drove them from their homes.
After a great tour through incredibly well maintained ruins, we sat by some llamas and had a snack before our last big hike of the journey-- an hour hike up to the top of Wayna Picchu. It was mostly steps of varying heights and completely surrounded by beauiful views of Machu Picchu and some of the strangest, most jagged and jungle filled mountains I have have ever seen. At the top was gorgeous and sometimes a little nerve-wracking. Some of the steps are quite small and with nothing to hold onto on either side, let´s just say it was some slow going. We met our group at the top on a big and we all shared just about the best Red Label I have ever had.
OH my lord! what an amazing place! Im soo there!
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