13,345,634,264,674,349 steps to the promiseland

whats crackin guys, tanya here. the boss on this trip (you know who you are) has sat me in this chair and forced me against my will to regale in our biggest adventure yet, the reason why we chose peru to begin with, world wonder number 1, machu picchu.

to pick up where michelle left off, we trained it over to aguas calientes to be picked up by a kindly woman holding up a sign for emily (who is apparently a celebrity now that she has signs held up for her left and right). we walked approximately two feet to our hotel, where we proceeded to meet with our guide, his name is pedro, and his guide group will be called pedro, and then pass out in preparation for our 4:30 a.m. wake up call. upon awaking (late, mind you), we hauled over to the bus station, as quickly as 6 people could on 4 hrs of sleep and only instant coffee as a caffiene stimulant.

we beat the sun up to machu picchu and barely made the group of 400 who go up to winu picchu (the worlds best stairmaster) and overlook machu picchu and the andes mountains. to be honest, machu picchu before sunrise was breathtaking, and nothing i say here can speak highly enough of the spectacular view we witnessed as the sun rose over the mountains and onto the city.

after we toured the ruins, we began the 1 hour climb up to winu picchu that small children and grandmas with hip replacements can make without any problems. NOT. let me tell you that all 6 of us are in relatively good physical condition, and i think a part of my soul died on that climb and is stuck on the mountain forever. we manage to seriously throw down and make it up in 40 minutes, and our time up there made this whole trip worth it on its own. Has anyone heard that sigur ros song, staralfur? (april? zach? help a brother out) i think that song is the only way i can explain what it felt like to be up there. we had a 360 degree view of the andes mountains with the city of machu picchu below us. it was so magnificent, i was seriously tempted to jump off and see if i could fly. i managed to talk myself out of that one. look at the fotos em posted, but even they won't do it justice. for cereal.

we made our way back down from the cloud forest, and for me, i left with my spirit lighter and my heart fuller.