Machu Picchu

Hello everyone!
We´re currently sitting in the Lima airport waiting to fly to Ecuador. Our flight has been delayed for 4 hours (could be more) so we´ve got some time to kill. Why not blog?

Over the last 2 days we did the condensed version of the Inca Trail and visited the amazing city of Machu Picchu. I will admit, I wasn´t sure that I was going to really be that thrilled by looking at a bunch of ruins (especially after looking at all the pictures), but I was pleasantly surprised. I would highly recommend going if you´re ever in the Sacred Valley area and have a few days to kill.

We started our journey by taking a train from Cuzco to kilometer 104 of the Inca Trail. We hiked for 6 hours, stopped at all the ruins along the way and got a bit of a history lesson. It was a typical RobO/DawnO hike because it started out raining and by the end of the day the sun finally broke through and was gorgeous for the rest of our trek.

At the end of day 1 we got our first glimpse of Machu Picchu as we entered the Sun Gate. I can only imagine what a rewarding experience it would have been if we had done the 4 day version, but it was still quite spectacular for us.

We stayed in a hostel that night and the next morning we were up at 5:20am to watch the sun rise over the city.

We got a guided tour through the city amongst the other 5 billion tourists, but it was still pretty cool. We had 4 hours of free time in the afternoon so we took advantage of all the trails (including the one up Waynapicchu – the one that reminds me of Mt. Olympus in the old Hercules cartoons). I feel that the blog isn´t doing the place justice so you´ll just have to go (you too grandma!)

We´re looking forward to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands.

As we sit in a smoking lounge (the only internet available to us in the airport) we are reminded that congratulations are in order to the City of Medicine Hat for going smoke free in all public places today. We can´t wait to take advantage of the stink free nightlife!