July 23rd-24th, 2016
Before I left for Peru, I knew I couldn’t leave without seeing Machu Picchu. I booked a guided tour ahead of time where I’d hike a portion of the Inca Trail (you can’t hike the trail unless you have a guide) and come in through Sun Gate and down to Machu Picchu.
I had to wake up super early for my ride from my hostel in Cusco to the train station. I then had a fairly long train ride to the location where we’d be starting the trail. I also met a lovely Norwegian couple that were part of my tour group. The hike along the Inca Trail was spectacular. It was about four hours long along a ridge in the mountains. We stopped to eat our bagged lunches and passed some ruins before making it to Sun Gate. The view coming over the top of Sun Gate down to Machu Picchu was amazing. We sat there forever just staring.
We had time to explore the ruins a bit and I ended up running into students from the field course who had come seperately! I then went down to Aguas Calientes, the touristy town in the valley near Machu Picchu, to check into my hostel and have dinner. That night I met up with the field course group for our last Crisco Sours and said goodbye to a few that’d be leaving before I got back to Cusco.
The next morning I had to wake up at 3:30 a.m. to go line up for the buses that drive from Aguas Calientes up to Machu Picchu (you are also able to hike up but we wanted to get there early to beat the crowds). As the last part of the guided tour we went around and learned a bit about Machu Picchu. I then parted with the guide and group and hiked up Machu Picchu mountain solo. And lemme tell ya, that almost killed me. It was the hardest hike I’ve ever done plus the altitude had me feeling sluggish. But I finally made it to the top for a beautiful view of Machu Picchu.
At the end of the day I hopped on the train to take me back to Cusco. I got back late to the hostel and said goodbye to the remaining students, the TAs, and prof. And I had a final early morning wake up call to get to the airport.