Leogulus-Champ's (Taweewat Somboonpanyakul) blog: Trip to Peru Miniseries: Day 3

I decided to separate into a post for each day. You can find more post here for Day 1, Day 2, and Day 4.

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I woke up at 4.30am to had some breakfast since it will be another long day for me. I left the hostel and get the bus station at around 5am and had to wait for 30 mins for the first bus to leave towns. As I was waiting in line, I saw the same 3 siblings just got to the line and also met the same group of American whom I met in the hostel in Cusco. We exchanged a little bit but didn't really end up stay together in the end. I arrived at the gate for Machu Picchu around 5.45am, but since the gate opened at 6, I had to stand in line for couple minutes. The wait didn't last long and I finally got inside.

5.30am waiting to catch the first bus up to Machu Picchu

I climbed up the hill for the most popular view in Machu Picchu, but the result was kinda disappointing, but it is all foggy. You can't really see the ruin and you can't definitely see the famous mountain behind. I sat down a little and decided to take a walk as waiting here isn't going to make the fog go away. Before I came to Peru, all the website said that it would be a rainy season there. I was worried about the rain. Lucky, it didn't rain here, just some morning fog. They recommended you to get a tour guide so that you can learn all about the history of the place and the importance of a different site. I didn't really have anyone with me, so I decided to go solo without a guide. I did some research in the beginning, so I know some landmarks that I wanted to see. I stopped by the Temple of the Sun, the Royal Tombs, the Royal Palace, The Three Windows Temple, the astronomical site (Intihuantana), and many other places. I also eavesdropped on some English tour guides as they told the story about the place to other people. The story about the Incans and how they created this place is an amusing one. The creativity and engineering powers that the Incans put to build such an enormous architecture at the top of the mountain was another great achievement in human history. But the Spanish came too soon and the Incans did not even have much time to enjoy this marvelous construction.

The first view that I saw at Machu Picchu!!

Since I was alone, I had to constantly ask people around me to take my photos as I walked around the temple. It was all one way inside the ruin so you will have to get out before going back up the hill for the photo spot. Not until almost the end of the walk that I met Francesco who is an Italian traveling alone in Peru. We decided to join each other on the walk so that we don't have to ask many more strangers to take our photos. We walked back up the hill to the famous spot of Machu Picchu. We spent almost an hour (from 9am-10am) to take the photos of this place at different angles. It was incredible. The place is as amazing as it was shown in all the postcard. The view was stunning with the ruin in the middle and green mountains surrounding us in all directions. Taking a LOT of photos was definitely a fun way to experience this place as everyone was literally doing the same thing. After we finished with all photos (too many photos), I planned to walk up to the Sun Gate (Inti Punku) as I learned from the internet that it was another place with a great photo. My new friend met up with his groups of friends while we were taking photos and he decided to stay with them. I said bye to him before heading to the Sun Gate alone (again). The walk was about 45min-1hr to get to the gate. It was hot and I was pretty tired from waking up early and had been walking around the ruin. I manage to get to the Gate at around 11am. I sat down, enjoyed my water and little snack while watching Machu Picchu from afar. It was an amazing view with a nice breeze blowing through me. After 30 mins, I decided to walk back to Machu Picchu and got back at 12pm.

Francesco and I at the most touristy spot of all Machu Picchu

Instead of getting to the exit, I decided to walk through the whole ruin again for the second time to see all the stuff that I skipped during my first walkthrough. I didn't finish the whole thing until 1.30pm. My feet started to hurt from all the walking, but instead of just taking a bus back, I decided to walk down from Machu Picchu back to Aguas Calientes, which is about 1.5 km (~1hr15min) for a pure staircase. Yep!, it was as bad as it sounds. I managed to get down to Aguas Calientes at 2.45pm and stopped by the same local market to get a nice meal again for just 8 sols (~$2). In its entirety, I spent almost 9 hours walking around Machu Picchu and hiking down. It was fun. I got back to the hostel, packed up and headed to the station to catch a 5.20pm train back to Cusco. I also met another nice person from Brazil on the train back. I just found a quick dessert for my dinner as I wasn't super hungry and fell asleep almost immediately.

Walking 1.5km down the stairs back to Aguas Calientes

Before I finish the story about Machu Picchu, I had to mention that you also had an option to hike the famous mountain (either Huayna Picchu or Machu Picchu). I didn't do any of these before I was alone and hiking for more hours alone did not sound that exciting to me. If I had a chance to go back, I will definitely hike Huayna Picchu for sure.

Now, let go to the last day of the trip, heading back to the urban area, Lima! (and more photos from Machu Picchu.)