Machu Picchu... a day I will never forget and never want to repeat

I absolutely loved Machu Picchu. The end of the Andes and the beginning of the Amazon is home to one of the eight wonders of the world, the ancient society of Machu Picchu. The views were unbelievable, the history shocked you, and the architecture and engineering of the Incas baffles you. However, this is NOT a family vacation, I repeat NOT. If you are based in Cusco like I am or travel by plane into Cusco here is the ridiculous route you must embark on to capitalize on the complete Machu Picchu experience. First you take an hour and a half ride on miserable roads in a crowded van, yay! Once you arrive to your destination, Ollyatantambo you must take an hour and a half train ride to Aguas Callientes. From there you should wake up at 3 am the following morning and take a bus up the mountain to Machu Picchu. Once you are there, you want to quickly acquire Huayana Picchu tickets so you can hike that while you are there. You will also want to hike Machu Picchu of course and from there potentially to the Gran Cavern which although miserable to hike, was fascinating. I say it isn’t a family vacation because you are hiking a ton and you will feel it the next day. We also opted to hike down instead of take the simple bus ride which was awesome but my legs are still crying,

The experience itself was once in a lifetime and I can’t express the euphoria I had once I reached the top of Huayana Picchu and viewed Machu Picchu (after walking through Machu). Why on earth was this society, 10,000 feet in the air even here? It’s hard to say but the best reasons seem to circle around Protection from invaders or the ability to study all types of astronomical phenomenon. The Incas had stones arranged such that during the summer solstice it would shine right through these two thin rocks on that day and that day only. Perfectly marked stone compasses, and stones that outlined the Milky Way perfectly only begin to scrape the surface of the Inca’s incredible history. On top of that the llamas strolling around get checked on by veterinarians every two weeks, better health care than most Americans!