After we thoughtlessly bought tickets to Machu Picchu when we had that chance, the only thing that we had had to figure it out is how to GET TO there. There are no roads for cars, respectively no buses. Only a train rides you, which costs three times more (for non-Peruvians) than the entrance to the site itself. Life is a game, we said, and with a help of friends worked out The Map To The City Of The Incas, went with buses to the farthest possible point and then started following the train track on foot.
That's where we started without a slight idea what is up in front of us. As a matter of fact, half of the achievements in my life are due to the fact that I never have an idea what an effort I should make. Otherwise, I would have never even start it.
A good friend of ours lent us a camera, with those AA batteries, which turned out to be unrecognizable for the camera itself 90% of the time. The rest of the time we had to remember to open the seized lens manualy, cause otherwise the photos came out a bit incomplete :)
The road was stunningly beautiful but we had to be careful for the coming trains behind and in front of us. Several times we jumped in the bushes with a train literally couple of meters away but what scared me more was the passages thru the tunels...
Anyway we were saluting the nature around, cheered ourselves up and kept walking with an unbending spirit.
What bended in the end was our legs. There was no path along the rails and we had to walk more than 30 km on the rocky train track. After the 8th hour we both were dancing on the rails like Justin Timberlake, desperately looking for a light or a sign of an urban area.
Of course we did it and even limping we were having fun, laughing, singing and feeling how the nature is changing from mountain to jungle - the plants, the noises, the smell.
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It was already dark when we reached the Machu Picchu village and this is the last photo of the beautiful view. The camera turned out to be without flash as well, but believe me, it is all there in the dark.
And then Avalon on the next day. If Avalon existed, it should have been Machu Picchu. I expected something imposing, but what I felt was cosiness. The site is nestled between mountain peaks, where the clouds always veil and unveil the ruins. Machu Picchu is much lower than the city I live (2400 vs 3300 m) but the feeling is that you are up there in the clouds in the middle of the sky.
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The famous peak behind the resting me is called Huayna Picchu, a residence to the high priest of the town at the time. There is a trail up, extremely steep and slippery - you have to be in a good physical condition to climb it and to guarantee admission at least 2 weeks before as it is restricted for 400 people daily. Of course, we did that as well. It's just that the camera stopped working on the top.
But when we looked like idiots, it worked flawlessly.
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Then Henry from Japan, who happened to be on our way down from Huayna Picchu didn't forget to send us this one. It isn't from the very top of the peak but still high enough to see the Machu Picchu from a bird's eye view.
Thanks to Erik from El Salvador and his i-phone we have these two as well from the so-famous spot:
We were happy to made it after almost 7 monthed life in Cuzco, we were trying to walk around everything, were lying on the grass, feeling the enchantment of the place, trying to find spots to pee, cause there are no bathrooms inside the site, making wrong guesses for the things around and sticking here and there to tourist groups to listen to the guides' stories. Then we turned back from a road just two hours away on foot to the first collective bus to Cuzco. I wish we had known that way earlier but aaaaall good :)