Day Four: The Early Bird Catches The Walk

What I had hoped would be a sound sleep was rudely interrupted by the Mother’s Day celebrations that were in full swing well into the night. And at 1am, with the MC still blaring out in between off-tune traditional music, my 4am rise only got closer and closer.

Needless to say, when we were finally woken hours later, I felt like I had barely slept and my legs were still aching from the climb the day before. But climbing Machu Picchu is not really the sort of thing that you can just reschedule for another day – it was the culmination of my South American trip - so there was no turning back, or sleeping in. Plus, if we were to claim one of the 400-only spots for the adjacent climb up to Wayna Picchu, we had to get to the top before the gates opened at 6am.

Throwing on some clothes to stave off the cold, we left our hostel to meet everyone amidst the smashed glass in the plaza – obviously Mother’s Day had been a good one. Once there, we headed out of town in the pitch black and I am glad that at least some of us had torches to avoid the rocks and pebbles along the road. Not really sure where we were going - and with our new tour guide still back in town, collecting the one person we forgot - we just aimed for the other flash lights ahead.

After about half an hour of walking along the bottom, passed the train tracks, we finally saw the sign that signalled the start of the stairs up. Again, I thanked God that there was someone behind me lighting the way with their head-torch, else the unsteady path below me would have tripped me several times and added another layer to my scabbed knee. And I thanked God for the full bright moon, which had peaked just the day before.

But being able to see my way was only one blessing, and one that could not save me from the affect of the steep climb. After just over 10 minutes, I was out of breathe with everyone else, clutching to the side of the path, sweat pouring out of everywhere, despite the time and the chill in the air. The path was an unrelenting stairway to hell, with each new step up, a new stair.

Finally, though, it levelled out and each step became much longer, allowing one step of ‘rest’ in between. Oh, the small things. And eventually, after an hour of trudging through the darkness, the sky started to lighten and we knew we were near the top. As expected, our speedy group were among the first arrivals at the gate, and so we made it about halfway down the line. Still not yet 6am, we waited to enter, scoffing down some of the breakfast and lunch supplies we had brought with us.

It was the usual confusion as the staff attempted to get a crowd of a few hundred people into a single file line, but with the sunrise blushing the clouds with its sepia tones, I was pretty happy to have just arrived at my destination, and to know that my climbing was almost over.