Machu Picchu

Alex and I got up at 4am for the Machu Picchu day. Alex walked up the mountain and I took the bus... I had had enough walking for awhile. The bus left at 5:20 and Machu Picchu opens at 6am. Most people want to get there early to see the sunrise as did the rest of our group. However, it happened to be that the day we went to Machu Picchu the mountain and ruins were covered in a dense cloud. So, we couldn´t see the sunrise, but it was still pretty amazing. As we sat there the clouds slowly left and we could see more and more of the ruins. It was pretty incredible.

Machu Picchu on Wikipedia

I inserted the above link so that you can read more about Machu Picchu. I highly suggest it.

Machu Picchu is one of the new 7 wonders of the world, along with Petra, the Great Wall of China, the Colessium, Christ the Redeemer Statue, Chichen Iza, and the Taj Mahal. You can also check information on the new 7 wonders of the world at New 7 Wonders. On this site you will find out that the world voted on the new 7 wonders of the world. You will also read that they are starting a competition for the 7 wonders of nature soon. You should definitely vote for your favorite 7 natural wonders. I voted for the Grand Canyon, the Redwood Forest, the Great Barrier Reef, Igazu Falls, the Amazon, Mt. Kilamanjaro, and the Cliffs of Moor.

We took a tour with our guide of Machu Pichu and then we climbed up Machu Picchu Mountain to get some really good views of the ruins. Although this was really hard, the views from above were pretty amazing and worth the climb. Most people want to climb Wana Picchu the mountain everyone sees in the typical picture of Machu Picchu, but I really don´t think the views from this mountain are as nice as Machu Picchu Mountain (I can tell because I looked at Alex´s pictures on his digital camera). For some reason though Wana Picchu is more popular and only 400 people a day can go up to protect it from erosion.

After climbing Machu Picchu mountain and wandering around the ruins, I returned to Aguas Calientes, on the bus. I had lunch with the Irish and the Dutch and then we visited the hot springs in Aguas Calientes. These springs are not near as nice as the springs in Santa Teresa, so I suggest that you cut those from your trip and just go to the ones at Santa Teresa. After the hot springs, we returned to get our train tickets and go to the train station. We took a train from Aguas Calientes to a small town where we got on a bus that took us to the center of Cusco. After this, I walked to my hostal and went to bed.