We slept above 3500m elevation and the night got cold. We also heard some rain going down at night and felt that our luck is over. However, in the morning the skies were again blue and inviting us for a hike.
Today’s hike was with many historical sights along the way. It was incredible what structures were built on top of the mountains. Incas built many things deliberately with a lot of symbolism involved. Many structures from the top were representing their sacred animals: pumas, condors, or snakes, with the round temple, always being the head of the structure. With the clouds going through the mountain tops and sun peeking through the views got even more epic.
We had lunch overlooking Machu Picchu mountain which was hiding Machu Picchu behind itself. Lamas were running around that had proven to be extremely photogenic. I also tried carrying heavy porter’s bag up and down which made me appreciate even more the hard job they were doing.
This day felt physically even harder than the last. There was a lot of descent which hit the knees hard. We learned that running down instead of carefully walking down was a much better strategy although a bit more dangerous one.
Before finishing the hike we sat down to enjoy the sunshine and views from Inca terraces. The guide told how unbelievably lucky we are. We still didn’t get any rain although it’s a rainy season and due to Covid we rarely interacted with any other people and got to enjoy the trail to ourselves. It would be impossible 2 years ago with porters constantly running around and all the historical places swarming with tourists.
We got down to the camp and had mountain landscape views from our tent. I got an extremely cold shower that many hikers avoid doing but it refreshed me well for the last day.
The last dinner has proven to be the best one as well. The chef had even baked a cake to prove his tent-cooking skills. We said goodbye to all the staff before going to sleep as we are going to wake up at night to get to Machu Picchu as early as possible.
