INCA TRAIL: DAY 4
Before anyone can leave camp to Machu Picchu, you have to go through a checkpoint and it usually doesn’t open until 5:30am and Miguel said that groups get there early to line up since each person has to be checked through. By now it was just the three of us and I hated the thought of waiting behind all these big groups of people so we got there at 4:20am. Luckily, due to the winter solstice that day, they opened the checkpoint at 5:00am and we were the second group through. The race had begun.

Us at the checkpoint, waiting for it to open. Jared was feeling terrible that morning and hardly slept the previous night.

Miguel said it is about an hour to the Sun Gate, where we get our first glimpse at Machu Picchu. We were hauling - we were supposed to meet Jon and Anika at MP and I wanted to see them and MP so badly. I lasted about 30 minutes without stopping once, took a quick one minute water break and then we were off again. It got very steep, a lot of stairs and I kept moving fast until I couldn’t breathe anymore. Jared forced me to stop, tears were streaming down my cheeks and we waited about 3 or 4 minutes for me to catch my breath.

Then the infamous stairs, or what I think is best to describe them as, a ladder. 50 steps that go up, almost straight up vertically. I had to climb it with my hands and feet and I made it all the way to the top without stopping (I also didn´t want to stop on that ladder, for fear of falling off to my death). We took a quick breath and then Miguel cheerfully told us it was only 10 minutes more to the Sun Gate. We had one group in front of us already and one had passed us, so my competitiveness pushed through. When we got to the Sun Gate and saw Machu Picchu, I again started crying. So many emotions consumed me at once - relief that the trail was almost over, disbelief that I had made it, etc. Most of all, I couldn’t believe that I was staring at Machu Picchu, a place I had wanted to see for so long. It looked glorious - dawn was breaking and the light was lovely. We caught our breaths, took some photos and were off to Machu Picchu. And we made it in only 45 minutes!

View from the Sun Gate, looking down at the city of Machu Picchu.

THE SUN GATE
The Sun Gate. Words can’t describe, but here I go trying to do just that.

There’s a stone “doorway” and as you walk through it you turn to your left and there it is. It’s just amazing… We made it to the Sun Gate in 45 minutes, a very good time – we were the third or fourth group there I think, and we were the first to take off and arrive at MP.

I can’t imagine seeing MP for the first time any other way. This is the way it’s mean to be seen, from the trail, not from a parking lot. There I go with my bragging rights again…

We were at the Sun Gate for just a few minutes – I wish we would have stayed longer – but I was eager to see Jon and Anika and to find a good place to watch the Winter Solstice in action.

Photo taken on our way down to Machu Picchu. We were irritated to see people already there, standing in front of the Temple of the Sun for the solstice. They looked so warm and clean!

HEADING DOWN TO MACHU PICCHU
As we were walking down to Machu Picchu, another 30-45 minute hike but luckily downhill, we saw some tourists walking up towards the Sun Gate to get a picture. They looked at us with complete quizzical faces – I later realized that most people don’t know about the Inca Trail and they wanted to know how we managed to beat them to the top… they had no clue that we HIKED our way there.

We were the first hikers at Machu Picchu, arriving around 6:30am. Tourists were everywhere. I wish they opened the gates later for the people who just take a train and shuttle to the ruins, it’s not fair. The hikers can’t leave when they want to and we show up and there are people everywhere, fresh from showers and warm. Grrr. They look at the hikers all funny, like "why are you sweaty and limping?"

We went straight to the ticket booth, no Jon and Anika. It was early, so Miguel took us to the place of the first formation for the winter solstice, the Temple of the Sun.