Machu Picchu day! We woke up at 3:30am and ate a small breakfast before setting off to queue at the checkpoint which opened at 5:30am. The idea of this was to get to a part of the trail called the Sun Gate where you can first see Machu Picchu at sunrise. However, we did not manage to make it for sunrise and it was a very misty morning. Eddy and I had been held up at the checkpoint as there was something wrong with our guide's paperwork but we sped along and managed to catch up with our group. After waiting for a while at the Sun Gate the mist cleared and we saw Machu Picchu, it looked amazing from this viewpoint and we were all excited to get there. Along the rest of the trek we had to climb some steep steps called the Gringo Killers as people were known to struggle going up them. They weren't as bad as we thought they would be, Eddy didn't struggle and I pretty much ran up them which our guide found amusing. After less than an hour trekking we arrived at the top of Machu Picchu, it was such a good feeling to have completed the trail and be standing on top of one of the wonders of the world! But we were also exhausted! To register at Machu Picchu we had to climb all the way down and then of course had to climb up again to start our guided tour. By this point our knees and ankles were aching. We took lots of photos including the 'iconic' photo of us both and individually. Eddy was excited to have a photo taken with her Dora backpack. I was asked by two boys (not sure of their nationality) if I would have a photo with them which I thought was strange but quite funny so I agreed to pose with them on either side of me. We were taught a lot about Machu Picchu, its discovery by Hiram Bingham and its three possible purposes. These included a holiday home for the Inca king, a school/university, or a place used for sacred rituals. There were lots of different parts to the lost city, which we visited and enjoyed learning about. It was a really hot day and both Eddy and I got burnt, Eddy on her nose and me on my scalp. Once we got back down to the bottom we paid the high tourist prices to get a large well deserved coke and got on a bus to a town called Aguas Caliente, named because of its hot springs. We didn't have time to go in the hot springs as we had to have lunch and then catch a train to Ollanta. The train to Ollanta took 2 hours and then we were picked up by a minicab to be taken to Cusco, another 2 hour journey. After a long day we just wanted a quick dinner and our beds! We treated ourselves to a Mcdonalds and headed back to the hostel. There were some New Zealanders heading off on the trail the next day so we gave them advice on what to pack and what to expect. Eddy was so tired she just went straight to bed but I couldn't wait for a hot shower after not being able to shower for four days! In bed relatively early we had a long sleep in our comfy beds.