It was a 90-minute train ride along the Urubamba River
down to Machupicchu Pueblo (also known as Aguas Calientes). We checked into our hotel (the Hanaqpacha Inn Machu Picchu) and had lunch there before heading up the mountain for our tour of Machupicchu, led by Marco.
This tour was the greatest highlight of my trip (followed by the next day's hikes). I lack the words to describe my awe and enchantment by this place. I'll let the pictures below try to capture some of its incredible beauty, which brought tears to my eyes a few times.
a "shadow rock", matching the the profile of the (cloud-topped) mountains behind it
Intipunku (the Sun Gate)
We had a 5 AM wake-up on Wednesday, so that we could get an early start on our hiking at Machupicchu. We were greeted that morning by some heavy rain, which let up a bit by the time we had arrived at the entrance gate. The overcast of the morning added a unique aura to the sites we had witnessed under much better weather the previous afternoon.
We had three hiking routes to choose: Huana Picchu (I passed); Intipunku (the Sun Gate) (my first hike);
and the Inca Bridge (my second hike).
Neither of these hikes was technically difficult, though both of them required some focus, given the steep drop-offs off-trail, the altitude, and the damp conditions. As I stepped from stone to stone along the Inca Trail up to the Sun Gate (and especially on the return trip), I found myself very much "in the moment" and exactly where I wanted to be.
After our lunch in Machupicchu Pueblo, we boarded our train back to the Sacred Valley. A random highlight of the return train trip was an ethnic dance performance and fashion show by the stewards and stewardess.
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