Machu Picchu

24 September 2017

We all woke up very early, ate another mediocre hotel breakfast, and then all started walking past the restaurants and down to the town square. We then waited a bit with the town statue, before we continued on the road toward Machu Picchu. The walk was right by a river and had stunning views…

After a while we arrived and began the hike. Sabrina and I had previously thought we were going to take the bus up to the top, but after fearing we would regret not walking up the trail, we decided to stick it out together. The walk was not as bad as I thought it would be. It was however not really easy, as it was over 1000+ stairs. The stairs were also in the jungle, meaning it was humid and wet. So while I am happy I chose to walk, it was a cake walk. Sabrina and I ended up walking up with Marion and Pierre (Belgium). Our method to hiking was to go up as far as possible before sitting down and taking a break. I also put on music and started dancing on the way up. While I didn’t have any energy, it was better for me to get hyped up while walking so I didn’t acknowledge my exhaustion. 

Once we got to the top, we all paid to use the restroom, stamped our passports, and of course took photos with them. We then all split into groups based on language. While I am beginning to understand more Spanish, I went with the English group. When touring Machu Picchu, you want to understand what is going on. As we were entering, we had to have our passport and tickets ready. However, Sabrina couldn’t find her ticket, so she ended up getting separated from our group. This meant that we spent around 10 minutes waiting for her, until we were told be the authorities we had to leave. After leaving her behind, we went up some more stairs before we got our first real view of Machu Picchu…except as I learned from the tour, it wasn’t Machu Picchu. The mountain we were climbing was Machu Picchu, which meant the mountain we were viewing with the wonderful ruins was Wayna Picchu. I felt like I had been lied to my entire life, but nonetheless, the views were stunning. 

We continued to climb higher-up the mountain and take photos before we stopped with the other exchange student groups. Here we quickly posed with all of our flags (we weren’t supposed to have our flags out, not really sure why not). After taking those important photos, the tours split back up again, and we went back to the tour. 

We continued climbing higher, before going back down to view and tour the actual ruins…

After the tour, all the students had to exit Machu Picchu before we could reenter and stay. This meant we all left, used the bathroom, and then reentered. When I reentered, I went with Nadja and Salome (Swiss). We decided to climb to a part with a great view and not a lot of people to take some more pictures…

Here we also met with some other students, all of with we took some more pictures…

We then all went back down, took more photos, before going to try and find a llama to take photos with. After our llama photos, we sat on the grass and admired Machu Picchu, it was honestly the most beautiful and magical thing I have ever seen. There was something about the entire place that was serene, beautiful, calm, and peaceful. After our break, we all decided it was time to move on with our day (we needed some real food). 

As we were exiting Machu Picchu, we ran into some Rotarians from Belgium that were also there to visit the wonderful destination. We talked with them a bit, before we headed down. Sabrina, Tiia, and I all walked down for the first bit. After doing so many stairs that day, everyone’s legs had started to shake. So we decided we would take the road up, a longer, but easier path. We conversed as we walked, but when we got to the next staricase, Sabrina and I decided to take it. Our legs were shaking pretty bad at this point, and while the stairs were more difficult, they were much quicker. We ended up with Girdeon (Austria). We all had a conversation about refugees (Girdeon’s family had Afghan refugees living with them and Sabrina’s parents are both Afghan). It was a really cool conversation, and helped me get some insight on the refugees in Austria. 

After what seemed like a walk forever, we finally got back to the hotel. By now, Sabrina and I had convinced ourselves that we deserved ice cream for walking up all those stairs. We ate lunch and then found Macie, bought a 1 liter tub of ice cream, walked to the Plaza, and ate it all. We talked and enjoyed the views before we headed back to the hotel. We gathered our things and then all walked to the train station. On the train ride back, we all talked and enjoyed our final glimpses of the magical Machu Picchu. 

Once we arrived in Cusco, we got the blessed news that we wouldn’t have to wake up early the next day. So, exhausted, we all got our rooms and went to bed.