The fourth and final day of the trek greeted us with buckets of rain. The early starts were beginning to take their toll too. We struggled up out of our tent.
After a little bit of administrative stuff we were on our way. The trail was pretty easy, a gradual incline up onto the Cloud Forest before some rather steep steps up to the Sin Gate. Along the way you could see evidence of past and recent avalanches, which was a bit of a concern.
The rain was relentless, and our ponchos were barely keeping the water out. When we got to the sin gate, I must admit I was a little disappointed. You could barely see Machu Picchu through the thick mist and cloud. The Cloud Forest was living up to it's name. You couldn't help bit wonder what it would be like on a sunny morning.
We headed down into machu picchu and in betweeen the clouds. The further we went down the more the place started to reveal itself. It was quite breathtaking. I was now kinda thankful for the weather we had, the clouds made the place even more mystical, magical and spectacular.
We were then given a tour of the whole site, which was really comprehensive and enjoyable. I must admit we were in heaven. Such an amazing feeling to inhabit the clouds within the mountains. I then got Led Zeppelins Misty Mountain Hop stuck in my head, which was not so bad.
It was about 10ish Noe and much of the morning cloud and mist had lifted, allowing wider and far reaching views over machu picchu place and the sacred valley. The magnitude of where we were was slowly sinking in.
It's amazing to think that up to 1000 people lived with and on the land here in harmony with the world. Quite magnificent, dreamlike really.
After exploring the place for several hours, it was now tome to leave. Our trek had ended and we had to say goodbye to all the lovely people on our group and our guides, who we had shared such an amazing experience with. We headed back down the mountain by bus to the village of Aguascalientes. It was weird, I was tired but still on a high so couldn't really rest.
We ate lunch at a peculiar restaurant on town where works of food art accompanied your meal. I got a sculpted bird from a carrot, whilst aim got a dove from a melon. Weird!
The town seemed really pretty however we unfortunately couldn't explore as we had to get train back to Ollyantatambo, followed by a bus to Cusco.
We got back to our hotel around 8ish, and after a much needed shower me got a much needed and deserved rest.
So ended an incredible experience - one we'll definitely never forget.
- Blog from iMat
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