Inca Trail – Day 4

After a rather abysmal night, but an awesome sleep I woke up feeling somewhat refreshed.

Have a look at some of the photos I took while at our camp site, Phuyupatamarca. Located approx 3,650m above sea level – we were actually camping above the clouds!

After having some  breakfast we set off on the final leg of our trip to the Sun Gate at Machu Picchu.

We have to descend from the “Place above the Clouds” and passed some ruins, as we continued onto lunch. Lunch was great, and it was there sadly we bid farewell to our lovely team of porters who had done such a fantastic job for us. What an amazing bunch of people.

Continuing along, we got towards the “Gringo Killers” a set of stairs aptly named if you ask me as they are exceptionally steep (approx 48 to 52 stairs in total).

After that it was just a short hike and one last final set of stairs until we we at our final destination – The Sun Gate (Machu Picchu). What an absolutely amazing view, and very emotional for all the team. We had all worked so hard to get here and finally, here it was.

After photo’s and relaxing for 10 /1 5 minutes we descended down to Machu Picchu and the Bus stop which would take us into Machu Picchu town. We got squared away in our hotel, went up stairs to level 6 for pre dinner drinks then headed off for our meal. There was a religious festival on as we walked up the street, with an entire parade going down the street. I wish I had brought my camera, some of the costumes and designs were simply out of this world.

After that we headed to bed – I woke up at about 1am and went for a little wander, having a bit of a look around and actually meeting one of the bar attendants from earlier in the evening at our hotel. Was a really nice guy, showed me around. Headed back to the room about 2am and got some more sleep.