Day 6 Part 2: Jueves – Machu Picchu

Eventually we made our way down Huanya Picchu and the mist had all vanished.



Jenny and Destiny went to the hot springs in Aguas Calientes, while Tom and I stayed to walk around some more. After walking to the top of the ruins we decided to go up to the Sun Gate which is on the path that is barely visible here to the dip in the mountain.



It’s another long distance view of Machu Picchu on the opposite side of Huayna Picchu. It took us about half an hour to get to the gate. It was on the trail the Incans used to get Machu Picchu. Along the way there were some structures and at the top there was a building of sorts that made the Sun Gate.




We then walked back and split up to enjoy the site on our own. These are Tom’s pictures.



These are mine.




Despite the thousands of people that visit Machu Picchu everyday for the last little bit I was mostly by myself. I wondered around some buildings that led to other areas that sometimes would dead end. In one building I entered there were two Andean rabbits in the rocks.



We headed back to Aguas Calientes to eat and catch our train. We went to a restaurant called Indio Feliz or Happy Indian. This was our Thanksgiving meal and I had been wanting to eat alpaca for Thanksgiving all week. But they didn’t have any so I had mango chicken instead. It was delicious like all the rest of the food.

Along the way to the train station we ran into a bunch of kids who wanted their picture taken with us. We were a bit confused since there are thousands of tourists that go through the town everyday, but whatever.



We then made it to our train to Ollantaytambo and took a taxi the rest of the way back to Cusco. The trek was amazing and Machu Picchu was everything we had hoped it would be and more, with Huayna Picchu being our favorite part of the day.

After we arrived in Cusco we were surprised to learn that we were supposed to tip those who accompanied us. We gave each of the horseman $10, the cook $15 and Willy $20 which meant we were out $55 extra, so if you ever go budget this in with the cost of the excursion. Even with this it was still more than worth it.



Here is Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6 Part 1, Part 2, Day 7, Day 8