Machu Picchu

“Can you imagine waking up and opening your eyes to the amazing sunny site of Machu Picchu somewhere below you? How lucky you might feel to have under your eyes one of the most wonderful sites of this world! As the loner I am at times, and to enjoy the peace of thinking and feeling, I chose a faraway terrace opposite to, and higher than, the ruins of Machu Picchu. I sat face down in the morning sun with my cheek on a stone, facing the ruins and the opposite peak, Wayna Picchu. I was daydreaming and slowly passed unto a light sleep. When I woke up, again I was enchanted. This is not a site I normally see when I open my eyes in the normal days of my life! It is unique and wonderful and I have no words to describe it. I wish I could hide in the surrounding plants and stay here overnight so I get to see this again and again, each  time I wake up. The road here was not an easy one for me. A four day trail that began in Cusco. We took a van to an altitude of 4,350 meters and we were asked to choose a bike and go down a mostly asphalted road that weaved through the  mountains. We needed not to pedal at all as the entire trail was on a downhill slope – but we did need good brakes. Someone in our group had an accident at the second curve. He ended up in the hospital with a broken collar bone. Yet, this was the easiest day for me by far. The next two days we hiked on mountain trails that went way too high up for my taste. I learned another thing about myself in this incarnation: That in this body I am not mediocre on hiking and walking. I was either the first and the fastest of our group of 15 (including the guide, with me possibly the oldest of them all), or the last of us all when the trail went up the mountain. I could not keep up with the rest of the people for the life of me and I was breathing like a tractor, with that as the only possible noise I was able to hear in my head. No more birds, wind or animals. Even my own steps were beyond my timpani’s capability. But I was the best at being the last! 🙂 And then, this morning came along. We had to wake up at 3:30 am to hike from Aguas Calientes (2,000meters) to Machu Picchu (2,432meters). The gates to the site open at 6 am but just the first 400 people in line get the admission tickets to the other peak: Wayna Picchu. So we walked in the dark following people with lanterns or head lights, and the trail was steep. Almost all of it up on step stones. I was peeling layer after layer of sweaters and blouses off of me. June is winter in Peru. I got to the gates wearing a wet T-shirt and dropped on the ground behind the last person in line. Next time I will take the bus here. The 21 Soles (about $7 U.S.D.) is totally worth it for me now. Yes, the buses get here after 6 am, so no chance to get a Wayna Picchu ticket but that was an effort made in vain in my case as that peak is too high for my climbing taste, anyway. So the admission I won I gave to my guide in the hope that he finds someone that will use it. And yes, lots of people got bug bites and itched and scratched from the first day on the trail. I even heard of some that got sick from bug bites, while I was hardly kissed by any insects here. And they love me in Florida. Not that I crave their love! Do they recognize me from a previous incarnation and give me a free pass from their vampiristic behavior, or do they know here that I was born in Transylvania? LOL Am I too strange? Will the friends and family move to other neighborhoods? OK Now you have it! The internet unreachable four days of my life. In a nutshell.” Photos from Machu Picchu (Click on photo to enlarge  or comment)