Grace and Allen's Machu Picchu Honeymoon » Day 7 Pictures (Day 4 Inca Hike)

June 7, 2007 - This is our last day of hiking.... We visited a few ruins along the way as we hiked but the highlight was really begin after lunch. At a restaurant at Wiñaywayna, our porter would prepare a last meal for us. Wiñaywayna is the place where the porters and us would part ways. After lunch, we visited the ruins at Wiñaywayna before heading back on trail toward Machu Picchu. We quickly began descending into the Cloud Forest. It was fun seeing the quick changes in the environment as we descended into the subtropical region of the mountains, hiking among giant firms, mossy trees, and bamboo. Soon, we were hiking up steep stairs to Intipunku. Most of us took a breather at Intipunku, a small ruins that many mistaken for the gate of the sun. The "real" gate of the sun is some 20 or so minutes hike from Intipunku. At the "real" gate of the sun is what many consider the highlight of the day, if not the trip. It is here that we got our first glimpse of Machu Picchu. What a awe-inspiring sight! We rested a little and took zillions of pictures. During the hour or so of hiking downhills to the entrance of the Machu Picchu park, Odon would tell us more of the stories and theories surrounding the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu. At the gate, we took a shuttle down to Auga Calientes and walk to our five star hotel. The hotel looked nice, but Grace and I would have a small ordeal there. Everyone looked forward to a hot shower, some messaging, and a bed to sleep. Unfortunately for Grace, the hot shower lasted only a minute before she was chased out of the shower when the water suddenly turned cold. After a repairman confirmed that we needed to switch room, the bell boy would have trouble with the keys for our second room. Finally, after a few more back and forth, with Grace standing outside still in robes, they finally took us to a third room where the key and shower actually worked. After our ordeal, we would walk around town a little before joining the rest of the group, including Odon and surprisingly Miguel, for a nice dinner at the hotel's restaurant. We would turn in early to bed for an early start the next day - to catch the sun rise over Machu Picchu!

Grace getting up for sunrise washing her hands in a nice warm bucket of water prepared by the...	Sunshine hits a local peak near Phuyupatamarka	View of sunrise from our tent!	OK - that was nice - can I go back to sleep now?
View of sunrise at Phuyupatamarka slightly away from our tent	View of surroundings at Phuyupatamarka at sunrise #1	View of surroundings at Phuyupatamarka at sunrise #2	View of surroundings at Phuyupatamarka at sunrise #3
View of surroundings at Phuyupatamarka at sunrise #4	Packing up	Last breakfast at trail	Jo, Steve, and Ian
Preparations for the porter ceremony	Cooks and porters with REI Adventure sign	Cooks and porters with Trek Peru sign	Ian thanking the cooks in Spanish
Ian thanking the porters in Spanish	Start of raffle	Raffling away prizes #1	Raffling away prizes #2
Porters had to get water up for us a few hundred feet below at this spring/fountain	Part of the stairs leading down to the spring/fountain	Our group at ruins at Phuyupatamarka #1	Ruins at Phuyupatamarka #1
Our group at ruins at Phuyupatamarka #2	Ruins at Phuyupatamarka #2	Ruins at Phuyupatamarka #3	More ruins through the canopies by the trail
Hiking through a forest #1	Hiking through a forest #2	Breather along the trail near a small ruin	Odon descending stairs
Flowers	Someone has to do the hard work!	Aren't we there yet?	Bigger trees appear
Mossy trees	The Urubamba River	Grace checking out the views	Porters and we part here after lunch
Another group of porters together with Allen and Miguel (our head porter)	Allen with the ruins of Wiñaywayna in the backdrop	Allen at Wiñaywayna	Allen through a window at Wiñaywayna
View through a window at Wiñaywayna	Group of us at Wiñaywayna	Doorway at Wiñaywayna	Ruins at Wiñaywayna
Ruins across the Urubamba River as we neared Machu Picchu	Cloud forest	Giant ferns in the Cloud Forest	Hydroelectric station by the Urubamba River
Inca Trail through the Cloud Forest	Grace hiking up to the Intipunku	Grace at Intipunku #1	Grace at Intipunku #2
First View of Machu Picchu Ruins!	Grace and Allen at the Gate of the Sun #1	Grace and Allen at the Gate of the Sun #2	Peek of Machu Picchu from the trees at the Gate of the Sun
Grace and Allen with Machu Picchu in the backdrop #1	Odon, Allen, Grace, and Ramiro with Machu Picchu in the backdrop	Gate of the Sun	Machu Picchu in the afternoon sun
Inca Trail leading into Machu Picchu #1	Inca Trail leading into Machu Picchu #2	Grace and Allen paying respect to Pachu Mama (Mother Earth)	Grace and Allen with Machu Picchu in the backdrop #2
Grace and Allen with Machu Picchu in the backdrop #3	Magestic view approaching Machu Picchu	Allen with Llama #1	Allen with Llama #2
Grace with Llama	Grace overlooking Machu Picchu	Classic Machu Picchu View in the afternoon sun	Grace and Allen with Llama
Machu Picchu in the lengthening shadows of the setting sun	Grace and Allen with Machu Picchu in the backdrop #4	Allen at the guards tower	Grace at the guards tower
The Machu Picchu Park logo looks also like a tooth logo!	At our room in a supposed five star hotel where water would suddenly turn cold for Grace	At our third room in a supposed five star hotel where we could finally get hot water (ironically,...	At the balcony of our third room
Walking around Agua Calientes at night	A mural at Agua Calientes	More local fauna...	Begonia
DSC 3389	Porters from another group running down stairs (rotated flv file)	Porters from another group running down stairs (original sideways MOV file)

91 Images | Email Allen | Made with JAlbum & Chameleon | Help