In my last post “Inka Jungle Machu Pichu Trek Part 1 – Biking,Trekking & Ziplining” I went through my 3 day journey through the jungle in pursuit of exploring the mighty Machu Pichu. When I last left you our group had retired to bed at the end of the third day in the town at the base of machu pichu, Aguas Calientes
The next morning at 5 am we were woken by the sound of our alarms and rain crashing down from the heavens. We put on our poncho’s and headlamps and began the very wet walk from Aquas Calientes to the base of Machu Pichu and stood in line for the gates to open so we could begin our climb up the hill to the main entrance gate for opening.
There was an option here to get the bus up to the top however we figured we had walked this far so why stop now.
Once at the top we were all quite soaked, We met up with our tour guide and a few other group members and were all excited to finally reach the ruins of Machu Pichu.
When we first arrived at ruins this is what we saw
Machu Pichu is in there somewhere… I hope
Slowly the fog started to clear and we got our first glimpse of the ghostly looking ruins of Machu Pichu through the fog.
Slowly but surely Machu Pichu revealed itself
Our guide took us on a tour around the ruins as we battled through the wind and pouring rain. Our clothes were soaked head to toe and it was freezing and for the most part. The majority of the Machu Pichu ruins stayed shrouded in fog for the duration of our 1.5 hour tour.
Battling the rain and the wind on our tour of Machu Pichu
This was not the Magical Machu Pichu experience we were hoping for,by the end of our tour everyone was over it and headed back outside the ruin entrance seeking shelter.
Unfortunately a few members of our group had to leave by midday as they had a train to catch, Which was a bit of a shame as they had trekked all this way and barely got to see any of the ruins. For the rest of us we had a 9pm train so decided to wait it out for a few hrs in the hope’s that the weather would improve.
Llama photo bombing my shot of Machu Pichu 😀
Luckily our patience paid off as by midday the rain had stopped and things were starting to look a little more clear. We re-entered Machu Pichu ruins determined to turn this experience around.
Finally a decent photo of Machu Pichu
It’s amazing how much difference having some sunny weather and dry clothes can make.
View from Huayana Pichu
We walked a bunch of the trails and climbed Huayana Pichu mountain, Which had some of the most amazing views of the ruins.
Overall I really enjoyed my experience at Machu Pichu, The ruins have this strong sense of energy and presence to them, It really is impressive that such a large city could be built high up in the mountains.To this day would have to be the most impressive ruins I have ever seen, And although the first part of the day was a bit miserable weather wise, It’s all part of the experience.
What are your favorite ruins? Have you ever had a day where the weather has just been fighting against you the whole time.
And with that I am finally done with all posts relating to my time in Latin America, I look forward to bringing you exciting new posts about my amazing travels in Asia and Europe travels.
Honestly, I’ve never really seen pics of Machu Picchu like this, so I kinda liked them better. Especially the llama one.
My favorite ruins thus far are Tikal. I think it’s just how steep they are, and how they are shrouded by jungle.
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Thank you for the excellent and well written summary of your trip. We are going to do the same trip next month with a different tour operator. Did you carry everything in your backpack for the four-day trek, or did they truck a separate bag each night to the various hostels and hotels.
Hey Dale, I carried everything in my pack for the trek. I’m sure if you really wanted to you could organize a porter to carry your stuff if you planned on carrying a lot of stuff.
But for the part’s where we were on bike’s etc the bag’s were put in a car and driven to the next part. it was only when we were actually trekking did we have to carry our bags. Even on the final day when we went to Machu Pichu we just left our bags in Aquas Caliente.