Machu Picchu

The pictures don´t really do it justice. It´s beautiful and verdant and intact but mostly we were both blown away by the sheer scale of the place. It is huge. The day we arrived by train in Aguas Caliente (or known as Machu Picchu Peublo) we found a room, donned our boots and slogged straight up Putacusi mountain (next door to Machu Picchu) just to get our first look at this ancient place. As I sweated and grunted up the mountain I kept telling myself two things, one was that I would be rewarded with an incredible view and the other was how good this must be for my butt. Well I made it to the top (where Mark was already waiting) and that first look was magical. I could hardly wait to get to bed that night so I could wake up the next morning and go exploring. At around 4:30 am the next day we woke up and got ready to go get in line for the first bus at 5:30am. Mark commented that I didn´t seem all that excited but if you know me, then you know I am only capable of smiling on the inside that early in the morning. Luckily there was awoman selling coffee and tea to those in the line so by 6am when we arrived at the gate I was raring to go. In typical Mark fashion as soon as we got in the gate he took off running in the opposite direction of everyone else. Because of this we had a rare 10-15 minutes in a deserted section of the ruins. We sat together in awe as the clouds and mist drifted across changing the view every few moments. I think we spent about 7 hours at the ruins exploring the various paths and playing with the llamas and taking photos and video. It was wonderful how the palce evolved as the day and light marched on. We even have great video of Mark trying to get the llamas to spit at him but you will have to wait for the movie someday to see that. I think I took around 100 photos. Don´t worry they are not all here. Also I am only posting a few tonight so check back for more later. Each photo takes awhile and we have an early flight in the morning. We are still on the road. Right now Chile!! It´s later (10-27) and I have posted more. Tomorrow we are off trekking 5 days in the Chilean wilderness.