Todays the day I go to Matchu Picchu! I get up and pack everything ready for today, putting my main bag into storage here at the hotel and taking my new day bag over to the queue line. I'm there at 4.45am, the sun hasn't yet risen and its a bit chilly. The queue is already very long and it takes an hour to get to the front of the queue whilst the sun rises. The bus zig zags up the side of the mountain for half an hour and eventually I reach the entrance by 6.15am. The sun rises and the clouds begin to dispurse but the beauty of the mountain and its dawn just astounds me. I'm so lucky to be here on what looks like will come to be a beautiful day! I take a couple of pictures of the clouds, the sun rays and the mountains and then I have just enough time to use the loo which costs 2 soles before I meet my group. My bites are still painfull but I won't let them stop me today! Joep and Caroline are there along with about 12 other people ready for our giuded tour with Rebeka. She takes us into the site and we walk up a hilside to a great viewpoint of the site where we take some pictures. She told us about how the site was discovered anew by Hiram Bingham who was actually looking for Vilcabamba. He arrived through the jungle cutting his way through with a machette. Bingham was not the first to visit Matchu Picchu in modern times, but he was the first to map, photograph, and excavate the ruins in his two major expeditions of 1912 and 1915, and the first to publish such findings. Everything about Matchu Picchu is surrounded in mystery. We don't know for sure why it was built nor why it was abandoned, and we don't even know its original Inca name. Matchu Picchu is the name of the nearby mountain (Quechua for 'old peak') and the higher Huayna/Wayna Picchu (young peak) stands vigil over it. The site consists of over 200 buildings, including residences, temples and stores. These are connected by 109 staircases and flanked by many terraces which were mainly agricultural. About 750-1250 people may have lived here. The Inca Pachacuti started building it in about 1450, probably as a royal estate and retreat from the cold of a Cusco winter, perhaps also with a religious significance. The ruins I will see today are only part of the story. Over 60% of the stones are underground forming strong, earthquake proof foundations. Matchu Picchu is thus far bigger than it seems, yet it is incomplete. There is evidence of a work in progress, notably in the quarry and in the 'Temple of the Three Windows' where a huge stone is poised, as if still in transit. The site seems to have been abandoned unfinished after some 90 years, but there are no signs of violence, fire, epidemic or drought to explain why. Thought to be home to priests, high functionaries, craftsmen and servants and most importantly, the mamaconas or virgins chosen to dedicate their lives to the sun god. It was a city of streets, of aquaducts where clear waters still run, of liturgical fountains and walkways. The fate of the citys inhabitants remains unknown. Chronicles of the Cusco area make no mention of it. Theories of its demise suggest that the occupants were ostracized and forgotten in the bloody political disunity sweeping the empire., or that they simply abandoned a city under construction when the Spanish conquest cut off supplies. Evacuations have only added to the mystery. The skeletons of 173 people were found, 150 of whom were women. No gold objects were discovered. At the tomb of the high priestess, as Bingham calls it, the remains of a woman and a small dog were found with some cereamic objects brooches and wollen clothing. The woman had suffered from syphillis. The only entrance to the city in ancient times was in the narrow dorway at the southwest section of the citadel. The citys cultivated land was farmed on narrow terraces on the steep slopes of the mountain top, and the thousands of steps connecting them have survived for centuries. The city is divided into sections: The cemetary, jails, small dwellings and temples. The Temple of the Three Windows allows sunlight to pass through its windows to the Sacred Plaza. Higher up is the astronomical observatory and Intiwatana, a curiously shaped stone believed to have been a solar clock, or as some claim 'a hitching post to the sun', where the suns rays cast shadows used in planning seasonal activities and religious ceremonies. Some of the buildings in Matchu Picchu were two stories high, originally topped with sharply peaked straw roofs. What amazes architects today is the precision with which building stones were cut and assembled. A steep and perilous path arises from the site to the top of Huayna Picchu. At the skirt of the Huayna Picchu is the construction knows as the Temple of the Moon, and from the sumit there is an extraordinary view of the ruins and the Urubamba valley. I am one of only 400 people who get to climb Huayna Picchu today! My time slot for that is 10am-12 but we have this 2 hour guided tour with Rebeka first! She takes us to the viewpoint near the Guardhouse where we take some good pictures then we travel down into the Principle Temple area where we look at the stones that seem to be where the incas began their buildings. She tells us they used a large stone that was already there and built the rest of the building using and including it. We then go up to the Intiwatana and then down into the sacred central plaza before reaching the large Sacred rock between two roofed buildings. Its huge and echos the shape of the mountain Yanantin in the distance behind it. Around the corner is the entrance to the Wayna (Huayna) Picchu. But its not quite time for me to enter yet. I do feel the need to use the toilet and get some food, but sadly there are no facilities on the site so we trek back 15 or more minutes to the entrance so we can do just that! I take a few pictures on the way as we pass a aquaduct that is still working bringing water into the site, and start to wonder if I actually have time to see everything I want to here! The site is massive and I would recommend two days at least for the enthusiast to see it all at a leisurely pace! I however must become swift and energetic if I want to do all I can before I leave. I say goodbye to Joep and Caroline as they head back inside to go up the Matchu Picchu Mountain, this is a newer one on the oposite side of the ruins to mine. We joke about waving to each other accross the valley, but its unlikely we will be able to spot one another! We promise to send pictures of our trips to each other and I'm quite sad to see them go, but all good things come to an end and now I have a challenge of my own to contend with! I get some fresh orange juice and eat my sanwiches from the hotel outside whilst considering my options for what little time I have left here. I want to try see the Inca drawbridge, the Temple of the sun and the Wayana Picchu all before I have to leave. My train from the town is at 3.30 and I have a feeling the bus queue will be just as bad as this morning, so I aim to be done here by 1. Its almost 9.30 by the time I re-enter. I use the same pathway as before, taking more photos as the sun is out now and the views are great. I pose with a Llama, one of many on the site today. and make my way to the drawbridge exit. You have to sign in and out of the main Matchu Picchu ruins. Soon after I start there are some very large boulders to climb over, this is where I see two of the guys from the first days cycle trip and we stop briefly for a chat. Its bizarre but nice to see friendly faces. They tell me its not far and easier paths for most of it. The trail to the drawbrige takes about 20 minutes walking but I want to run it. I've become a bit more comfortable walking for so long along the cliff edges and these paths have been here for hundreds of years. Its quite fun, this is much much less busy than the main site and I feel great on my own running these paths. I am one with the nature around me. I envisage the Chasquis running like this passing their messages of tied knots between each other. The Drawbridge is very thin and the drop off is quite substansial. Sadly the entrance is gated off and inaccessable but I get quite close to it and the drawbridge itself underlines the utter remotemess of this hidden city in the Andres. I head back to the main site running again but as I reach the sign in theres a bit of a queue. I'm stuck behind very slow old Americans and I feel like I'm wasting time. I try to stay calm and look around me taking in the views. Once back onsite I rush past and reach the Torreon or the Temple of the Sun. You cant access the inside, but I walk around it and the underneath has a really interesting shape. Theres a cave which is inaccessable to the public, it looks like theres some of the natural rock here that is part of this building like Rebeka mentioned earlier. The stonework really is incredible. not a blade of grass cound pass between its stones. This is the mark of the seremonial or religous buildings, or perhaps the very rich. Other dwellings on this site were not made with such care as these. How did they do it? Each stone seems to be made for its neighbour. I continue on through the plaza to the sacred rock and take more pictures, its less busy here now, but there is a cloud that obscured my view of the mountain behind it. Now is time to climb Wayna Picchu! This is my most challenging climb yet. Its about 10.45am when I sign in and this site closes at midday. I'd better get on and up! I can begin to feel the heat of the sun and the Jungle around me and my fatigue begining to hit me as I start off up the mountain. I sneak some jellybeans and water as I'm alone and push on. The pathway seems to be going down as much as up but after a little while the views are already great. The pathways become extreemly thin and rather tretcherous, although my bites are bothering me and its very hot, I'm glad its a dry day as I wouldn't inagine its worth the risk here on a wet day. A couple of times I pass people (rather closely!) on their way down and everyone is encouraging me to continue on. They know how hard it is! Some of the steps are carved into natural rock. I've had to put on my knee support here as every little helps! Its supposed to take an hour to get up but I have to stop to take a breath now and then, my heart is beating very fast and though its not quite altitude sickness, I recognise the need for rest as I go. I make it up in 50 minutes. Though a very tough 50 minutes indeed! Had I not been half way around the world and it been a now or never moment I'm not sure I would have felt pressed on so quickly! The pathways get thiner and thinner and so do the steps till im going up sideways crossing my legs over each other and clinging onto the side wherever I can! Theres a set of terraces and stoneworks here and great views its dizzying! Up further I go to the very top where a mass of boulders is the very top of the peak up here there's a boulder that is in the shape of an arrow pointing to Salkantay 20km away. There are a few people here and its not really clear where to go next. We scramble to the top boulder for photos of Matchu Picchu which looks tiny from up here, the views of the surrounding valleys are immense, and then scramble back down but through and underneath the boulders to other pathways through the site. After a little while I come to perhaps my favourite part of the site, its just a little cave but the steps down into it are just so perfect, they have been there for hundreds of years and the cave isn't large or that interesting, but the fact you have to actually pass through a part of the mountain for me is fun, and its tight! I dont think I would have been able to do it with my backpack on! I take some pictures and carry on to a brilliant viewing area over Matchu Picchu. Theres a couple there so I take their photo and I ask them to take a picture of me and they get me to do some jumping pictures. I'm really tired but also really happy. I carry on down passing the terraces again and then onto the same path that lead me up. We're all heading down now so again for most of the way I'm alone, left to my thoughts and struck by the awersome views. It takes me about the same amount of time to descend as I'm stopping for photos, but its much much easier!! Its still tricky, a little tretcherous and you certainly don't want to fall off the edge, but my heart isnt suffering as much on the way down! As I reach the gate I look back and think, WOW! I just climbed that! Now sadly its time for me to go. I walk back through the Matchu Picchu site to the entrance to use the loo again before I take the bus. The bus line is longer than this morning and I'm anxious about catching the train. We're stood partly in the sun for this and theres no escapeing the hot sun now. I drink up all my water and eat all my food whilst in the queue which takes over an hour to get into the area where they check your passport and tickets. The bus down takes the hairpins of the road with ease but there are several busses all honking as a warning they're round the bend! Its a bit scary and I'm hot and bothered by now. I get into town at 2.55 and run to the hotel to grab my bag and run to the train station which isnt easy to find! I get there eventually and buy the most extortionate water and crisps of the whole trip. 4 times the price of anywhere else! But I'm out of time and I just want to sit down and sleep! Once the gates to the platform are opened I find my seat on a train in the Executive class section. The train is full so its a good job I didnt miss it! We are served a drink and snacks on the way to Ollantaytambo. There are windows in the ceiling of the train so you can see the beautiful scenery as we leave after a while I notice a fire or two spreding down the side of some hills and wonder if its deliberate or the heat of todays sun. At Ollantaytambo there are a few market street stalls selling overpriced water and food. I just want to get to bed now. The sun is starting to set and there doesnt seem to be a board with my name on it. There are groups of men offering taxis at a cheap price, but I dont want to risk travelling on my own unless theres no options. I spot Eva from the bike ride and we talk, she isn't on any signs yet either so we are patient and wait together for 30 mins or so till its a bit quieter ignoring offers of cheap travel. Theres a man on the phone with a board and hes updating the names Eva finds her name on a board and then mine is added. We are seperated but put into groups of other "tourist travellers" we stick out like sore thumbs here. for one thing were taller, though I'm average height over here! We're put onto a minibus and after what seems like forever we drive to cuzco which is about 3 hrs away. All I want now is my bed! Theres a lot of traffic in Cuzco at 6pm so I finally get to my hostel where it all started and am shown to my room. I shower and contact home. But I have to be up early for the flight back to lima so after making arangements at the reception I go for a well earned sleep! What a wonderful day!