I woke at 4:30 the next morning, in order to be at Machu Picchu at sunrise. There were a few other hikers like myself along the twenty-minute road to the base of the mountain, bouncing along in semi-darkness. At the base of the mountain, you prove you have a ticket, cross the river, and then begin climbing. As you go up, you cross a number of switch-backs, with tourist buses lumbering along them. They'll beat you to the top, get in front of you in line, but they will not have the essential pilgrim experience of hiking straight up for an hour and a half. You can see in this picture all the switchbacks leading up to Machu Picchu. Buried in there somewhere is a hiking trail that goes straight up.
There are more pictures of Machu Picchu on my facebook page, and I think that's open to anyone, even if not members of the facebook community. But these are some of my favorite...
Thanks for reading! See you on the road to Lake Titicaca!
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