Another early start. Every day.

We were up well before the sun because we needed to be on one of the first busses to the top of the mountain where the entrance to Machu Picchu is. The park opens at 6, and we wanted to be near the front of the line so that we could get in and get some pictures before it was overrun with annoying tourists (like us).

Apparently Jimmy has done this before.

The bus eventually came and deposited us right at the entrance to the gate. Now we just had to wait until 6am rolled around, and the park was ours.

Jimmy knew just what to do — we made a beeline for the “picture perfect” spot overlooking the ruins. As we got to the top, we found we were not the first ones after all.

Not only were there llamas, but there was a lot of fog and low, drifting clouds. We all took hundreds of terrible pictures in anticipation of the perfect moment when everything would be clear.

To my frustration, Jimmy eventually made us start the tour of the ruins, even though we failed to get our “postcard perfect” shot. Ugh. The first thing we hit was the entrance through the sun gate.

I learned a lot of stuff about the way things were built, about who lived in what parts of the city, about how they managed to provide drinking water to the people, and about how long the Incas occupied Machu Picchu. You will have to go and learn yourself though. It’s worth the trip, and I don’t want to spoil all the fun. Just look at the pictures for now.

And as time went on and the temperature rose, we finally got the views we had hoped for!

How did they get all these blocks here? How did they build such an amazing city atop a mountain? More questions that you’ll learn the answer to when you go yourself. Book the flight now. Get a Chase Sapphire Reserve card (and ask for my referral link if you do!).

I will say that the construction is pretty awesome. There are different kinds of stone walls throughout the city, some of which have absolutely perfect masonry.

We circled through the ruins and learned a lot. At the end of that, it was time to say goodbye to Jimmy. After 4 awesome days, we were all sad to see him go.

Part of our tour was the hike to the top of Machu Picchu mountain, which overlooks the ruins. It was non-stop uphill and no joke, but provided some great exercise and great views.

From the top of MP Mountain, I made the descent back to the ruins, and then back down to the valley floor and up to Aguas Calientes. Lots of descending. Lots of stairs. Lots of tired legs. Well, two of them. I was thrilled to reach the hotel and get cleaned up. I found Cooper (he headed back earlier) and we met some of the others on the street by chance and all went for lunch and some drinks after.

While we were at the craft brewery, we saw this guy moving this cart loaded with stuff. Impressive.

We killed a few hours at the brewery in Aguas Calientes while we waited for our train (6pm). It would take us to a stop where we’d catch a van ride back to our hotels in Cusco. Everyone was tired from the long day, but in good spirits.

We got back to Torre Dorado, our hotel, packing some stanky clothes, and a ton of good memories.

Cheers!