So, true to the rest of our arrival times throughout the trip, we got to Cuzco late.
Really late.
It was raining and every hostel we looked into was way out of our price range.
Finally we found a dingy one in a sketchy back alley and decided "whatever, it's just one night."
So we got into our beds and went to sleep.
Except that I couldn't actually sleep at all.
I think it was about 5:00am by the time I finally nodded off.
With plans to meet up with my friend Laura from Vermont (who is currently teaching English in Cuzco) at 10:00am, I got a solid 3.5/4 hours of sleep.
But the adrenaline at seeing my friend kept me going through most of the day.
We treated ourselves to lovely breakfast of waffles, fruit, and real coffee (as opposed to the watery instant coffee we'd been drinking the rest of the trip).
We then went on a long walk to a lookout over the city and headed back down into the city center to visit some of the renowned markets to look at gifts to bring back to our friends and family in the states.... and maybe a few gifts for ourselves.
Our shopping was followed by a trip to the chocolate museum and pisco sours at a local watering hole.
The next day, Amanda and I purchased tickets for Machu Picchu and began the long journey to Aguas Calientes, the small jungle village that one must travel to in order to see the ancient ruins.
After making friends with some Mexican gentlemen on our train ride, we finally arrived in Aguas Calientes and found a hostel.
We went to bed early that night as we had plans to wake up at 4:00am and hike up to Machu Picchu.
4:00am came very quickly and we groggily rolled out of bed, got our things together, and went downstairs to have breakfast.
Shortly thereafter, we began our trek up the mountain.
I think we both figured that after all of the trekking around that we had done so far, this hike would be a breeze. And it was so early in the morning, there was no way it was going to get too hot.
Wrong.... and wrong.
The entire hike is a set of stone steps, built into the side of the mountain and I wouldn't describe it as an incline as much as a near vertical ascension from bottom to top.
And if you think that it's easier to climb steep steps than a steep hill, I am inclined to say that you are sorely mistaken.
Then it got hot.
Fast.
By the time we were half way up, we were both drenched in sweat and panting like winded carthorses.
But, finally, we made it.
Machu Picchu is incredible.
It come highly recommended and is a very humbling thing to experience.
Especially with all of the modern technology that we take advantage of in this day and age.
However, on any given day, at any time of year, one must remember that there are hundreds of other tourists that want to come and be humbled by the vast mountaintop of ancient Incan ruins.
What I'm trying to say is that Machu Picchu is a very popular tourist destination.
And it was kind of hard to really soak up what I was seeing and experiencing as girls with perfectly straightened hair in Nike sports bras took selfies with each other a few feet away from me.
But maybe this viewpoint is just me being skeptical and self-righteous -- "I am way better at being a tourist than those girls."
After about 5 hours of walking around the ruins and the surrounding areas, Amanda and I began our descent and our long journey back to Cuzco which included a colectivo ride from hell in which a stray dog was killed and we were about two hours later in returning than we should have been.
So there's a quick little synopsis of my first days in Cuzco and me trip to the Mach.
Cuzco is awesome.
And Machu Picchu is pretty amazing.
But don't take my word for it, go see for yourself.
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