Machu Picchu: Patience is a Virtue

This is the story of how the six travelers experienced one of the most breathtaking places on earth.  

Getting to Macchu Piccu: For the three lazy travelers, the day started at 3:26 a.m., when they all woke up having to pee thanks to the apparent sound of rain pouring down outside.  They waited 5, 10 minutes, to no avail, and then decided to just brave the weather and get themselves on their way to the bus – which turned out to be a good thing, since it wasn’t actually raining it was just the sound of an earlier rain in the trees.  Success!  They made it to the bus stop and were fairly close to the front of the line… after standing for about an hour they made it onto the second bus, along with a super annoying couple who cut into line.  They wound their way up the switchbacks to Machu Picchu, passing those hiking beside… if they had decided to hike instead of take the bus it’s very likely they would still be on the side of the mountain today.

The meet-up: JD, Ash, and Britt hiked (yes, hiked) 15 minutes up to the lookout point to a) gain the quintessential view of Machu Picchu and b) wait for the rest of the group to come off the Sun Gate trail.  Upon getting to the lookout point they saw… pure white… FOG.  Thwarted again!  They took some obligatory fog selfies and … waited… eventually the fog rolled out … and then in … and then out… and then in… this is one of the magical facets of Machu Picchu, that it continually hides behind a wall of clouds and reveals itself every 15 minutes or so to regal awestruck tourists in its beauty.  So for 2 hours, Britt took 500 photos, fog, no fog, medium fog, fog with light, light shining on fog, no fog no light, no fog bright light, cloud, cooler cloud, different cloud, no clouds… you get the drift.  Because they were up so early the view was uninterrupted.  JD found a great rock-like couch and footstool and Ash interspersed sitting zen like and pacing waiting for their friends to arrive.  David, the trusted guide, had told the three lazies that the group would be around the third group coming off the Sun Gate Trail.  Twelve groups later they first saw Alice come around a bend, and upon first glance of her beloved friends she bellowed, “We got food poisoning!”  By this time, it was after 10AM and the lookout point was packed with hikers and tourists…who collectively turned to look at what random person was announcing their bowel misfortunes to the world.  Lara, Jenna, and the rest of the group followed, taking in the stunning beauty and briefly forgetting their sore knees.

The day: After meeting up they had a washroom break, where the hikers got to use a real functional toilet with a seat and everything for the first time in 4 days, followed by a guided tour of the ruins.  David walked them around the ancient Incan site, pointing out the surrounding mountains, explaining their meanings, the temples, and the story of Machu Picchu’s discovery.  They then had some free time to check out the many temples, a sun dial carved from thick stone, and had their cherished moments with Julia the llama, each posing with her.  Julia the Llama was kind enough to give her finger puppet doppelganger a ride after Alice (the human) launched it onto her back, and politely refrained from eating her.  After Machu Picchu they enjoyed a pizza lunch and a beautiful, but sleepy  train and bus ride back to Cusco. They picked up their luggage, found Alice’s “lost” camera battery, and enjoyed hot showers before having a goodbye dinner with the group, where Alice (of course) was nominated to make a speech thanking David that (of course) made him cry.  Keep this in mind for anyone seeking a wedding speech maker.  They finished off their night packing and preparing for another trip to El Salvador and an early morning date with Avianca (oh joy!)

Lessons learned: Don’t leave your phone on the side of a mountain in Peru.  It is highly unlikely that said phone will ever be seen or heard of again.

Questions for El Salvador:

1) Will Avianca actually follow through with their promise of a 5 star hotel 

2) Will Ash and Alice get their pina coladas?

3) Will Lara and JD make it home for their first days on new jobs?

Stayed tuned!