Machu Picchu and more!

After a pleasant train ride through the country, we arrived at Aguas Calientes- a tiny tourist trap of a town where everything is priced six times too high and you can't walk 3 feet without bumping into somebody trying to sell you an alpaca sweater.  We found a decent cheap hostel and got some food and headed to bed early, the next day held some adventures in store.
Machu Picchu is on top of a mountain that overlooks Aguas Calientes, and overlooking Machu Picchu is a mountain called Wayna Picchu (the big cone-shaped one in the picture from Wikipedia). The first 400 people who enter Machu Picchu everyday get their park entrance ticket stamped so that they can climb up Wayna Picchu; this arrangement makes for a town-wide race up the mountain every morning. The park opens at 530am, and so the line to board the buses which take you up the mountain start forming around 330am. The other option to that insanity is to wake up at 4am and climb the mountain on foot, hoping to beat the buses so you can get your ticket stamped. We decided to climb. I can confidently say that running up the stone steps in the pitch black (the sun wasn't up yet) for an hour without a break was one of the most challenging things I've ever done. By the time everybody reached the top we were all dripping in sweat, legs shaking, and ready to pass out. I'm glad to say that we made the cut though.
Machu Picchu was nothing less than breathtaking. The stone architecture, mountain views, ingenuity, and history of the city are incredible. We took some time to explore parts of the city before heading over to the entrance to Wayna Picchu. While we were waiting in line, we watched the sun come up over the rim of the surrounding mountains and rested our legs a bit (they were exhausted from so much hiking before 7am). The climb up Wayna Picchu was equally as difficult and slightly sketchier. The mountain is literally like a spike coming out of the ground with extremely steep sides covered in trees and such (By the way, you can go to my photo page and follow these narrations with pictures if you want). The stone steps are about 3 feet wide and wind back and forth all the way up to the peak, making for a dangerous climb.  The view from the top was easily one of the most spectacular things I've ever seen, but my knees were in such an excruciating amount of pain and I was so dehydrated that I just sat on a ledge and hung out while my friends explored the peak. After a bit we climbed back down, finished exploring Machu Picchu, laid in the grass for a while, and then got some food. I swear I've never tasted anything as delicious as the $6 Gatorade I got after doing so much hiking. By just after noon we were exhausted and headed back down to the village to nap.
We caught a train back to Ollantaytambo and another cab back to Cusco later that day. We spent another or two in Cusco, passing the time by doing some reading in the big city plaza, exploring some museums, walking around an amazing outdoor market that sold everything from almonds to full skinned pigs to organic soaps, and generally having a wonderful time in the city. That day was Dave's 22nd birthday and luckily, there was a Paddy's Pub right in that big plaza. We spent the evening drinking in the pub with a bunch of other Americans before heading to the bus station for our ride back to La Paz, Bolivia. Those stories soon to come! Enjoy the snow everybody.