16/01/2012 - day 4 - Machu Picchu

Waking at 4 in the morning isn't my favorite thing to do but for us to reach the site of macchu Picchu for sunrise but it had to be done.  I was told the record for climbing the countless amount of rock steps was 35 minutes, I managed it in 37, not a bad effort.
After watching the sunrise beside these inca ruins you can understand why macchu Picchu is one of the 7 wonders of the world; it was truly spectacular, we had all day to explore the site and the surrounding other attractions including an inca built bridge and two mountains you can climb to get superb views, I decided to hike the highest one where I was told it was going to take 2 hours, I managed to do it in an exhausting and sweaty 45 minutes. Reaching the summit of the mountain that towered over the Inca sight and where the panoramic view of the my surroundings were almost unbelievable to behold, well, until the clouds came in and ruined it all. I was able to get a panoramic in but it may not be posted below for the pure reason because I am very lazy to put it together and edit it.
I stayed at the summit of Machu Picchu mountain for a while chatting away to a Swiss French girl who didnt really speak english so we communicated in broken spanish – when most of the people left to get away from the rain she handed me her camera to take a pic of her bare backside with the view in the background.. a little unusual but unfortunately I have no proof – that picture would have been fun to post up on here.
My ticket to the ruins didnt allow me to access Wana Picchu (the mountain seen in all the postcards and pics) as it is limited to so many people each day although this didnt bother me so much as my legs were shot from running up crazy mountains all day.
I bumped into Simon and Emma who I first me in Quito here too... I have a feeling ill run into them quite a lot as they are headed in the same direction as me.
After I exhausted all the touristy sights and had taken my fair share of photos for the day I headed back down the hill with this Swiss girl and one of her friends.
Because things were so expensive around Machu Picchu I go some food back in agua calientes where got some beer too. One beer led to another (like always) and like always we found drinking in the street by far the best thing to do – meeting all the passersby and simply having a laugh.
I had a train to catch in the evening so I got ready but unfortunately I didnt have any more clean clothes and I almost certainly was releasing a foul odor around the train... meh, not much I can do.
Anyways on the train I sat across from a US/Israeli couple who  I could not believe they were a couple at all. I felt so sorry for the guy as his wife just walked all over him, poor guy. Maybe it was a greencard marriage?
Exhausted, smelly and falling apart I finally made it back to the hostel in Cuzco where I again checked in and went to bed.