The Lesser Known Option at Machu Picchu

I was lucky enough to have my mom come and visit me for 6 days. I was excited that she was going to come to a country that is pretty out of her element and for her to visit and see firsthand the spanish I have been working on. Obviously, the top thing on the list was to go to Machu Picchu. I scheduled earlier in the week so that if there were problems with transportation (considering this is Peru) then we would have time to figure out options. Luckily, everything went as planned, the only unfortunate thing is that we saw the best ruins first so the rest of the surrounding ruins looked less impressive the rest of the week!

First look- Mom and I

We arrived in Aguas Calientes and spoke with our guide for the following day to make plans of where to meet and to make sure everyone was on the same page. I was really curious to find out more about climbing Wayna Picchu which is the mountain in the background of everyone's pictures in photos. In order to climb this mountain, you have to be one of the first 400 people at the entrance of Machu Picchu everyday. People wake up at 3 am to either be first in line for the bus or trek up the side of the mountain (which is far and steep) in order to get these tickets. In the end, I decided to not wake-up before the crack of dawn in order to ascend this famous mountain. 

Instead, the next day I decided to climb all the way to the summit of the actual Machu Picchu mountain which is actually a higher peak and a less known hike. I am so glad that I decided to forgo the ridiculous wake up time. Instead of racing to the mountain between prescribed times and hiking with 200 people with the same ticket, I leisurely made my way to the mountain after our tour ended. 

I was told that the trek would be about 3 hours- one and a half up and one and a half down, but I assumed that was Peruvian walking speed (read: slow) and it was in fact only 50 minutes up and then back down. I hiked up the mountain, which was by no means easy pretty quickly. I only passed a few tourists coming down and maybe four going up. This hike was definitely tough though- most of it was incredibly steep stairs all the way up- some very steep and with straight down drops. 

Facing the stairs on the climb up, not fun going down either acutally

When I got to the top the hard walk was worth every minute of labored breathing. I arrived to the partially cloud covered summit and enjoyed nearly 20 minutes of alone time with just myself, the clouds and the view! Luckily two dutch tourists came and I was able to take some photos of them and they were able to take some of me before I made my way back down to meet with my mom. 

Since I didn't hike Wayna Picchu, I can't say that Machu Picchu is a better hike (though I have heard that it is), but I can say that if you are too lazy to wake-up early that you will not be disappointed at the top and I didn't feel like I missed anything not making it to Wayna Picchu. Plus, how many times are you on the summit of a mountain looking down at a world wonder alone? Priceless.

Me at the top with the view (Wayna Picchu is directly to my right)