Machu Picchu - Wayna Picchu

It is 11:00 pm and I just settled in my room in Cusco! It has been a very long day to say the least, but a very exciting one too... The day started much earlier than I thought, 4:00 am!!! There was so much noise in the hotel that it was impossible to sleep!! Nearly everyone in the hotel was getting ready to get out, so I decided to do the same. I packed my backpacks and by 5:00 am I was out of my room. At the front desk, I returned the key of my room and left my big backpack in the hotel, so did everyone else. I had a quick coffee and bread and was rushing to the bus stop. As I came close to the bus stop, I was shocked to see a huge line of people waiting for the bus, I thought I would be there at sun rise, forget that thought, I will be lucky to make it by 7 or 8:00 am! The good news is there were lots of buses and so as soon one is full, the next bus is ready. By the time I boarded my bus, 15 bus-loads of people have already departed and it was only 6:00 am!!!! The dirt road and the famous  switchbacks made it a very bumpy ride up. On the way I saw many hikers doing it the right way; hiking all the way up! Once off the bus, we have another line to go through at the gate, checking passports an tickets! It was moving fast and by 7:00 am I was already wowed by what I was seeing! Just incredible views! Many tourists had guides, but I opted not to have one as I wanted to go through the site at my own pace; fast and furious!! I had only one day there so I needed to see as much as possible! After roaming around and taking pictures in all directions and of everything that attracted my eye, I headed to the gate for Wayna Picchu also spelled as Huayna Picchu (which in Quechua means "young peak" while Machu Picchu means "old peak"). My group hike was starting at 10:00 am and I was there early not to be stuck in another long line of 200 people long! Wayna Picchu is a UNESCO site so there is strict control of the number of people who can get in, in this case 400 per day in two groups of 200! I bought my ticket early, in March, that is why I was one of the 400. The Machu Picchu site had a 2500 visitors limit per day, which after visiting, I think it is too high of a number!! But then again who am I to say, the Peruvian government decides that!! 

To hike Wayna Picchu one has to be FIT and this is really a must!! Some sections of the hike were nearly vertical climbs with very narrow steps and steep drops! I was very nervous at times, especially coming back down!!! Very tough on the knees, I was very worried so I used the three point technique most of my way down! One hand was always either on the higher step or on a side rock or tree or whatever is nearby. There was even two small narrow tunnels that we had to go through before getting to the top, one of them I had to remove my backpack and push it ahead of me while I was crawling like a snake through the tunnel!!! But in the end it was all worth it, the views were worth all the trouble and every drop of sweat!!! Just incredible views of the Machu Picchu site and surrounding mountains!

Once off Wayna Picchu, I was headed to the sun gate which is another location from which one can take breath taking pictures of the entire Machu Picchu site! However the hike is long and steady up slope with lots of steps, terrible for the knees!! But I decided this is my only chance in this place and I had to do it now!!! Off I went and on my way I was asking people about how long it takes to get there and it is interesting that the estimates were all over from 2 hours one said to 1/2 hour another said so, I just had to ignore all that and keep going!!! It turned out 30 to 45 minutes is all takes to get there so... Not bad at all. Once there, the views were just spectacular again but from a different angle.

Enough said here is a sampling of the pictures....

Looking down from Wayna Picchu high above Machu Picchu! Just breath taking views!!

Victory sign for reaching the summit of Wayna Picchu in a record time

Flying high above Machu Picchu from the top of Wayna Picchu ( you can see how wet my shirt is in the back, it was a tough steep hike to 8,880 ft)

Machu Picchu seen from Wayna Picchu

Machu Picchu & Wayna Picchu seen from the sun gate

A tourist emerging from the very narrow tunnel with his backpack in front (not for the claustrophobic people)

Llamas roaming between tourists 

The Machu Picchu site

Valley views from Wayna Picchu 

Another dizzying view from Wayna Picchu, the shear vertical rise from the valley gave me chills when looking down!!! I had to step back from the edge to regain my composure and cool!

The steep descent from Wayna Picchu tested my knees 

Dwellings on the Machu Picchu site, some one story and some two story houses!

Above Machu Picchu at 7:00 am pointing to the high peak of Wayna Picchu where I was heading next!!

By 2:00 pm I was ready to take the bus back to Aguas Calientes! I was tired and felt like my mission was accomplished so no need to just go from room to room on the Machu Picchu site, unless you are a civil engineer admiring the construction of the dwellings!! To take the bus back, there was a line again and a long one too, I guess we were all exhausted at the same time!!! I have to say the bus drivers were so good, they just zip back and forth on those switchbacks and sometimes had to drive in reverse to allow other buses in the opposite direction to pass! Once back down in Aguas Calientes, I looked for a place to rest, like a side street cafe with Wi-Fi so I can check my email and browse a bit!! By 4:00 pm I headed to my hotel to get my big backpack and go to to the train station. My train ride to Ollantaytambo was at 6:35 pm and I was hoping my taxi would be waiting for me there! Riding a train at night isn't as fun as during the day, can't see anything so I tried to talk to my neighbor who was from Quito Ecuador. She was happy to learn that I visited her home town! Her English was rather weak so I understood very little of what she said!! We did have a snack and drink service again and I had coca tea and a cookie! At 8:15 pm we were at the Ollanta station and I was relieved to see a guy, not the same one who dropped me off at Poroy station, with a sign having my name on it!! I pointed straight at him and we shook hands and we were off. The driver did not speak much English so the ride was very quiet! The roads were all two-way traffic and some drivers were really dangerous! However, my driver was very safe thank god! We crossed so many towns on our way; Urubamba, Chinchiro, Poroy to name few before arriving in Cusco at around 10:15 pm!! I checked into my hotel, got my room and immediately jumped into the shower!! I went to sleep soon after that!!!! Tomorrow is an easy day and I needed that to recoup...