Second time at Macupicchu- July 29 2009

July 29th 2009

I ate breakfast at 7am with the geomatics group and went up to Machupicchu with them in a bus. It was great to get to go there again, as we didn’t get to go many places the first time because the rain increased as the day wore on. So, I basically wandered solo through the ruins. I first trekked to the Inca Bridge. It was a decent length walk and very beautiful.
Machu Picchu is glorious on a sunny day, but as Alexei told me, it doesn’t change. I found that to be true. The ruins look the same from every angle, essentially. But, it was nice not to be trekking around in the rain.
Then I decided I was going to try to hike up Montana (Mount) Machupicchu.
I hiked uphill on these stone stairs for about an hour. I was unfortunately only about ¾ of the way up. The view of the ruins and Andes Mountains from that height were beautiful. But, I had to make it down to meet the geomatics group for lunch, so I had to turn around. I made good time down, due mostly to the yellow jacket that chased me down the mountain. I was booking it, let me tell you. I’m surprised I didn’t fall and hurt myself; the stairs are very steep in places.
After lunch, I wandered around a little more, and then, deciding I didn’t want to wait until 5:30pm for the group to leave, walked down to the Museum from Machupicchu. That was an interesting walk. I sort of felt like I was in the jungle. And the stairs were something else! They were SO steep! It was a silent and long (40min) walk, with only the occasional bird chirp, or rumble of a tour bus bringing yet another load of tourists to the ruins.
The weather was also very different from Cusco. Machupicchu is about…700m lower, I want to say, so breathing was MUCH easier. That worked well for me as it helped me recover from my cold. It was also humid. It all reminded me of South Dakota in the summer, actually. The climate had that feel to it.