Photo of the Month: Machu Picchu

I wasn't going to take a vacation this year.  Even considering the itchy feet I have been feeling since the spring, I was still going to focus on the trip I'm planning for next year.  I was going to spend my vacation traveling around Colorado and visiting the places I haven't seen since I was a child.  But then August happened.  And August was shit.  I worked several calls that reinforced my belief that when your time is up, it's definitely up.  Then I covered the worst call of my career, and decided I needed to get the hell out of dodge, purely for my mental stability.

Peru has been on my list for over a decade and I kept putting it on the back burner.  Mainly because I was living in England, so exploring Europe.  Then I was living in Southeast Asia, so exploring Asia.  And with plans to go back to Asia next year, I decided Peru...if not now, then when?  I found an amazing deal on flights (yo, you gotta be flexible and patient when looking for flights, and look at many different sites to find something that will work for you), and I booked it.

This was the most impromptu trip I've booked.  And also a rare one where I was traveling all on my own, not meeting at least one person I know somewhere along my route.  This was all me.  And all I knew I wanted to do was to make it to MachuPicchu.  So with literally no plans, no destinations (besides Cusco and MachuPicchu) in mind, I set off.  I could go on and on about Peru, but for this Photo of the Month, I'll focus on the reason why Peru happened: MP.

When I had decided over a decade ago to visit MP, I wanted to do it proper: trek the Inca Trail.  However, due to unforeseen circumstances during my stint in Asia, trekking up mountains is pretty much impossible for me now...especially on an impromptu trip booking.  So I did it the tourist way (not that trekking isn't touristy, it definitely is, especially in Peru).  Bus from Cusco to Ollantaytambo.  Early morning train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes.  Then bus up the side of the mountain to MP.  There's a good, probably 1/4 mile of stairs you still have to climb to get to MP...which was definitely trek-enough for me :) 

Going to MP, I knew that you are supposed to enter with a tour guide.  So at the gate, there was a guide and a group of people, which I asked if I needed to wait.  He said yes, so I waited.  We all went in together where he began explaining who-knows-what because it was all in Spanish.  My 8th grade Spanish was good enough to get me by in the cities, but to go on a full tour in Spanish?  Nope.  The day before, I was stuck on a full-day tour of the Sacred Valley in Spanish, and I wasn't about to go through that again.  When the guide was finished saying whatever he was saying, I asked him if there was an English tour.  He said no.  I didn't believe him, but I also didn't want to walk back down to find an English tour guide...so I got lost in the crowd and went off by myself.  I'm pretty good doing shit on my own.

Taking the bus from Aguas Calientes, the further up we drove, the heavier the clouds and fog became.  I was worried we wouldn't be able to see anything when we got to the citadel...and I was right.  Once I got to the top, after climbing all those stairs and the ruins appeared, everything was covered in clouds and fog.  I became incredibly emotional, as I have a tendency to do, and started crying -- not because of the fog, but because it had taken me SO long to get there, and considering my physical state, I fucking made it.  I knew, through patience, the clouds would break sooner or later, so I found a spot to sit and reflect on my life and what brought me here, and I waited...after about a half hour, the clouds parted and MachuPicchu was more than I ever could imagine.

MP - after the clouds and fog broke...a sight I will never forget

MP is enormous...far bigger than it is in the countless photos I've seen of it.  I spent my time exploring the ruins, feeling the majesty of the Inca and what they accomplished.  I also couldn't get over the fact that I was incredibly dehydrated, because common sense left me in my excitement, I forgot my water, and for some strange reason, thought there would be water vendors amidst ancient ruins.  There's not, if you're wondering ;)  Luckily, wearing my Colorado t-shirt, some fellow Coloradans started chatting with me and offered me a bottle of water they had...they brought extra because they're smart.  I'm sure they had a premonition that they would meet an idiot along their route that they could help out.

MachuPicchu is a place you need to experience.  You can't just see a photo of it and be satisfied.  And it now has me on a quest to conquer each wonder of the Seven Wonders of the World.  MachuPicchu is a pretty good first one, if you ask me.  Never give up on your dreams...no matter how long it takes you to achieve them or what obstacles you have to overcome.  They're worth it.  Every damn one.

Happy Trails!