My revised tour included one night in Aguas Calientes the closest town to Machu Picchu, then take a bus up to eventually find Kevin and another bus back down to Aguas Calientes.
The morning of my Machu Picchu trip I arrived on the third bus at 6am. I was put in a group with a mother and daughter from Wales. They were lovely. We say who was supposed to be our guide at 6:10 and he said to meet him at a certain place and we´d start the tour. Since, this guide didn´t exactly include me because I was supposed to meet up with Kevin´s group added to the fact Miguel the guide did not show up after 15 minutes, I left to explore on my own.
I asked another tour guide where the classic overview shot was of Machu Picchu and I started my upward trek. It was beyond words what I saw at the top. In combination with the history of Machu Picchu and the cloudy morning which created conituously changing views of the Inca site was again beyond words.
After 2 hours of my self guided tour I started looking for Kevin. His arrival was supposed to be just as early as mine but he walked from the Inca trail and entered through the "Sun Gate." I knew he had intentions to climb WaynaPicchu which is a mountain next to Machu Picchu and had an even higher, panoramic view of Machu Picchu.
So, I waited and walked around the WaynaPicchu entrance in search of Kevin.
On my bathroom break by the entrance Kevin found me at the most perfect time and I jumped in on his 2 hour guided tour. I met his tour guide, Angel who led the Inka Trail trek and who was also hilarious and friendly. It was definately much needed to have a guided tour because as I walked through the ruins I really had no idea how meaningful each section was.
Kevin then climbed Wayna Picchu around 11am and I got the opportunity to explore the ruins again. Because the altitude here was lower than Cusco I was more apt to climb upward and trek. I decided to go up to the Sun Gate which is high above Machu Picchu and again another place for a wide view. In front of me were two guys also trekking up there. A 50 year old Australian and a 29 year old Boxer who was originally from Norway but grew up in France with the accent and knowledge of many languages. The Australian offered me some coca leaves which help with altitude and energy. It made the climb a bit easier and the conversation made the walk even quicker. Coincidentally, we all had to be down to the bus staion by 2pm and I hurried down to the entrance as they ran to catch the train.
Kevin found me again and we took the bus back to Aguas Calientes.
We spent one more night there. took the train to Cusco for one more night to prepare for traveling to Puno.
I am here in Puno, with, yet another stomach bacteria, virus or food poisoning.
Kevin is visiting the Floating Islands and is staying with a local family on an island a little further out. Yet again, I have managed to contract sickness the night before a 2-4 day trip. I plan to see Kevin tomorrow night and we are en route to La Paz, Bolivia.
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