It was dusk when we were all ready and in our bathing suits and began to head out to the hot springs. We rented towels on the way, then walked up a hill to the thermal baths. They weren´t what I was expecting because they looked like real pools. The water was real murky. We put our bags in lockers, stripped down, then got into the first bath. It was so warm and the bottom was made up of gravel. Everyone seemed to be looking at us funny. We are funny looking. We moved into the next bath which was even warmer then the first, but before we got in we ran around seeing if any others were warmer but they all just got colder. We looked like chickens with our heads cut off. We stayed in the warmest bath for an hour or so, no one wanted to get out but we kind of needed food.
The chefs decided to go to a Peruvian Chinese restaurant for dinner. It was really good. We all got our food then went back to the hostal for a meeting. During the meeting we talked about the plan for Machu Picchu the next day, it ended up being we had to wake up at 2:00 am. blahggg. But it was totallly worth it in the end. We woke up at 2:00 put all of our bags into one room and left for the bus station at 2:45. When we got there there was only one family in front of us. Some people waited in line for the bus tickets on the other side of the sketchy dark road. The rest of us waited in line to get on the bus. We got our tickets at 4:57 and boarded the bus at 5:28 am. We were all soooooooooooooooooooooooo excited. I personally checked to make sure I had everything I needed to get into Machu Picchu a thousand times. The road was windy on the way up and it was still dark outside, but we were the first bus ! When we got there there were so many hikers already there. We pushed and shoved as a group all the way to the front of the line. Some jerks tried to cut. good joke. When we all got in we walked through a lower level of Machu Picchu, where Ms. B cried tears of happiness, then headed straight for Wayna Picchu. We were all prepared for it to be a really hard hike up to the top. We took pour time and every single member of the team made it to the top. It was amazing. Seeing Machu Picchu from way up there was beautiful and we all took more of our corny pictures :). At the top we all chilled on rocks. While some people were still laying in the sun Liz, Shandog, Catie, and I went down to the Incan Caverns. We met up with Ms. B and Olga somewhere along the path. Then, what we thought was going to be mostly downhill steps turned into a million uphill steps to get back to Machu Picchu. The four of us were planning which rock to die on and which bugs to eat for protien. It was a little bit funny. When we finally reached the part of the path that was down the millions of Incan steps we were so happy. We met a guy from the states who warned us of two ladders that would be coming up. Then we passed a spanish speaking couple that freaked out when I fell on my butt down a bunch of steps. Priceless moments. When we made it back to Machu Picchu we signed back in and met up with everyone else. The rest of the group decided not to go to the caverns. My group walked up to the top of Machu Picchu and took a nap in the sun before our meeting, while the rest of the group explored the ruins. After our meeting we finished exploring all of the amaxing ruins and took more corny pictures :) IT WAS AWESOME. We all stamped our passports with the Machu Picchu logo guy thingy then got onto a bus. We were all pretty tired and hungry. When we got back to Auguas Calientes we had some pizza for lunch then went shopping :) Everything was mad expensive because it was a tourist town. We met back up at the hostal to get our bags and get back on the train to Ollaytantambo.
Our friends at Wayki Trek picked us up from the train station after we got some dinner. It was another two our bus ride back to the Wayki Hostal. We got in around 11 and wanted to die in our beds after such a long day. Laying on that bed was heaven on earth :) When we woke up around 9:30 we had breakfast, I fell down some more stairs, then the kids had a meeting. Before the meeting some of us went to to the call center to talk to our families. When we got back Liz and I sat there and laughed for a minute then cried for a minute on and off for about an hour. It was halarious, but I think everyone is missing home a wee bit. Our meeting was like a Dr. Phil session. It wasn´t as bad as we anticipated and now everyone is uch happier. For the rest of the day we split up into groups to get food and supplies for our project phase. We are leaving today for our project phase and we are all pumped out the wazoo. We had a nice dinner last night to prepare for six days of our own cooking. We went to bed around 11:30. Everyone is happy and no one is sick or dying or injured for once. :) And before we leave we decided we wanted to give a shout out to all our FHS teachers !! Sorry to my english teachers for my terrible writing. Love you all !
p.s That is me Shandog and Catie playing Ninja at the bus station at 4 am. Don´t judge. :)
here is a link for more photos Machu Picchu
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