Hiking Huayna Picchu

That steep mountain towering above Machu Picchu in most of the photos is Huayna Picchu (or Wayna Picchu). And I climbed to the top of it! Barely. We didn't have much time so we had to make our way up quickly. And practically run down. (We had to get back to catch our train out of Aguas Calientes.) The hike was crazy steep and exhausting. My dad and five-months-pregnant sister quickly passed my out-of-shape self and made it to the top first. Parts of the trail were quite treacherous and they had some cables at points to help pull yourself up (and prevent dropping off the side of the mountain). At the very top there were just huge boulders and rocks to scramble up. And a narrow cave to squeeze through. And of course some ruins. Those Incas must have been seriously fit. I was completely out of breath when I got to the top (and most of the way up) and my legs were like jelly. And then I looked around and saw all of these ruins. So crazy.

The views at the top were amazing. It was fun to get a different perspective of Machu Picchu.

Waiting in line to start the hike. They only allow 400 people per day do the hike.

I'm still not sure how we got to the top of this thing.

Some random strangers at the top.

Another stranger. But it illustrates my "scrambling up boulders" point.

Looking down at Machu Picchu.

Steady...

Seriously, how did they build this?

You can see the road the bus took to get to Machu Picchu.

We took the bus back down to Aguas Calientes and then the train back to Ollantaytambo where our driver picked us up and took us back to Cusco. We finished off the night with a delicious dinner at Pacha Papa where we tried alpaca, several different kinds of potatoes, and yummy fruit drinks.

On the drive back to Cusco...