The morning of day 4 we got up at 4am, but had much less hiking ahead of us. We had to wait until the gates were open and were given a bagged breakfast to bring with us. The hike was only an hour to get to the entrance of Machu Picchu, but there were lots of other people racing to get there as well.

The first hour or so was very cloudy and made us appreciate being able to see it clearly the day before. We had a 2.5hour guided tour from our guide explaining the significance of certain buildings and then we were given the rest of the day to explore on our own. The ruins were absolutely packed with tourists and again, made us appreciate the stop at the ruins the day before. I don’t remember if I mentioned it in my last post, but the most amazing part to me was the size of the ruins. I had seen a number of pictures before from friends or during my research, but none of them prepared me for how big they actually were.

I ended up staying another 2 hours just wondering around or sitting and enjoying the view before heading back down. Thankfully we had a bus ticket for the way back to town and were done the hike! My legs couldn’t take another step downhill. We had time to relax in the town at the base of the mountain and enjoy one last meal at a restaurant with our group and guide before heading back towards Cusco on the train. The train ride itself was also beautiful with mountains and towns all around us on the way. I think it could go without saying that I crashed as soon as I got back to the hostel!