Aguas Calientes - Day 2

Another early morning, up at 6am. Quickly got ready, quicker breakfast and out the door by 6:50 to figure out how to get a bus up to machu picchu. And i do mean UP :)

Lots of confusion for us. We got in a big line on the street but then found out we had to buy tickets at the office. So rachel and caleb raced off to get our tickets while i tried to hold our spot in line. I kept getting hassled that i couldn't be in line without tickets but i found a way to not lose our spot. After Rachel arrived, she thought she lost her phone and sent caleb a block up to look but the bus was boarding. He got back just in time. Alexa and i got on first and sat at the back and eventually noticed rachel and caleb weren't on the bus yet and then we all realized i had all 4 tickets in my hand haha. They got the last 2 spots. Phew.

The bus ride up the mountain is otherworldly. But were heavily covered in clouds too. Still, all the mountains here are so vertical, it was very striking regardless. Once at the ancient city, everything was in the clouds. Didn't matter too much because we signed up for a hike to the top of machu picchu mountain, high above the ancient site. 4 hour round trip hike.

Incredibly gruelling hike to the top. Took us about 2 hours but we were all exhausted. Poor rachel decided to only go 1/4 of the way and wait for us to return. At the top, we were unfortunately completely in the clouds and couldn't see anything. But every now and then some clouds would part and we'd briefly enjoy great views momentarily.

After a long, painful and treacherous hike back down, we got incredibly lucky with the clouds breaking up for some awesome views of the ancient city. Got really wet in the process too but i didn't care. This is what we came for.

After descending back to the town, rested up for a bit and finally met up with abdel and max who had missed their original flight due to passport issues and travelled in transit almost 40 hours straight to catch up with us. Had an amazing peruvian meal at andio and put our tired bodies to bed.Read more