Salkantay to Machu Picchu III

So we pick up at the base of Machu Picchu in the touristy town of Aguas Calientes. There we were able to enjoy some soft beds, hot showers and hot greasy pizza!!! We all had a celebration dinner together in a pizza place, the real stonebaked pizzas with lots of cheese and meat. The next morning we arose at 4 am, at breakfast and set off to climb the stairs to the sky, up the mountain to Machu Picchu. The stairs followed the same track as the buses, but instead of zig-zagging nicely they ascended directly up, some stairs 2 inches some a foot and a half. We puffed on endlessly, aspiring to reach the top before the sun rose over the encircling mountains. Anna held the lead as we ascended step after step until we finally reached a sign that said, " Usted esta aqui. (you are here)" Where we all leaned heavily against the rainling to catch our breath while we watched the bus riding tourists embark freshly from their air conditioned busses and look around brightly at the entrance to Machu Picchu.

Once we were joined by the rest of our group we entered the park, only to climb yet more stairs to the highest point so we would have the vista of Machu Picchu from above. Our tour guide droned on monotountously, and we were so delirious after all the work we had done to get there, we found much more humor in making inside jokes with one another and goofing off, much to our guides disdain. After two hours of monotone we were finally released to explore on our own which sent us back up all the stairs to the top to take some more pictures and play "Name that Nationality" where you try to guess the nationality by the appearance and then confirm it by the speech. Quite the entertainment, with rows of tourists huffing their way up the stairs to start their tours. It kept us quite entertained for the better part of two hours! All the while enjoying the surreal scenery laying out before us. After descended the million and a half stairs, we returned to our hotel, freshened up and then took a lunch of ever tasteful pizza, and lemonade as we observed the very persons we had wateched before passing by our patio lunch table.

A short while later we gathered our things and boarded first a train and then a bus back to Cuzco, where we had another celebration, and spent the next 2 1/2 days lazing about, eating, reading and writing, watching films, sleeping in and gathering every day until our group was dispersed on flights home.

Somewhere in between all this I decided that I would rather tour the South of South America, and with kisses, hugs and tears, bid a sorrowful farewell to Jordan and Sophie as they made their way north to Lima and then to La Merced where they would begin their jungle tour, and I started off south to Lake Titicaca where I would begin my Bolivian experience.