Entering the fourth day of the Inca Stairs (renaming). Smelling like a hamster, over my daily menu of soup and popcorn, craving a shower, a proper toilet (not the Chinese version), a turkey sandwich, chips and a Coke Zero (sorry, don't judge, everyone has a vice), and not in any particular order...!
Rising at 3am to queue up at the control center for final leg of my journey.
Admittedly this is the hardest hike I have done, maybe I carried too much weight, perhaps 50 is catching up with me or perhaps I should have trained differently... any which way the many magical, historically impressive and mind blowing Inca archeological sites and Andes views supplied hours of rewards that far outweighed the physical challenge!
Inca Trail Day 4:
Distance: 3.5K
Time: Control to Sun Gate: 40mins.
Sun Gate to Machu Picchu main entrance: 40 mins.
Altitude: 8,860 to 7,875 ft.
Dress code: headlamp, hat gloves, puffer, fleece, hiking shirt, t-shirt, tank top...various versions thereof throughout the day.
Only if you could see what I see...or if I could only see... :) The final path is filled with ups and downs, somewhat like the sacred snake and a million youngsters leaping stairs at single bounds... 
Daylight brings, yes, you are correct, more stairs...or as they are known..."gringo killers".
These Mama rocks were used for burial and worship sites. It is just amazing how industrious the Incas were. 
And here we are, isn't this site amazing? A small city for 300-500 people, and an occasional visit by the King, running water to each house, retaining walls, agricultural terraces for food, equipped with an amphitheater with a carefully engineered acoustic system, an industrial tool, weapon and pottery making section, Temple of the Sun and Temple of the Condor, all made of all stone and still standing 500 years later...simply magical. 
Machu Picchu means: old mountain Machu = old and Picchu = mountain 
Happy Mountain behind us! 
Urubamba Valley, the direction from which Hiram Bingham and the first "tour guide" a 12 year old village boy took to uncover and bring fame to the citadel of Machu Picchu. It took 20 years to uncover MP from underneath all the overgrowth.
My guide Luis and me! Queued up at 3:30am...and we weren't even the first in line!
What? You may ask...yes that's right Virginia there is another set of stairs! Last, apparently most noted set of "gringo killer" stairs, so vertical I needed to crawl up...have I mentioned I packed too much? 
Reaching Sun Gate by 6:25am, a record for my guide. This old lady was on the move. The Sun Gate is the only entrance to Machu Picchu from the Inca Trail. It's another 40 minutes down. Inka Trail Tips: (things I wish I knew before...)
1. Stairmaster, train on it before you go!! With your pack on and off for hours...
2. Don't be proud, hire a porter!
3. Pack minimally...I wore versions of a tank top, wick tshirt, hiking long sleeve shirt, fleece, vest and puffer jacket, scarf, hat and gloves...temps went from 30 to 70, sunny and bright.
Prizes at the other end...the other two of our posse of #3GenCPeru and Machu Picchu!
Guess who met me at this magical place? Up at 5am, on a bus at 6:30am up the mountain, switch backing for 30 minutes. Milli and Mimi arrived with bells on. Reunited at the Temple of the Sun!
The amphitheater directly below us and behind us in the distance is Waynu Picchu (young mountain) . You can take the bus to MP and then climb to the top, steep and narrow, to see a panoramic view of what the Inca watchmen saw.
Milli and me take a few more stairs to the watchmen's tower.
After an amazing day finishing the inca trail and exploring MP with my 3Gen posse we took the bus down to Aguas Caliente, had a turkey sandwich, a capacinno, wandered through the AC market...
Milli and Picchu found each other at the market...25 soles = $7.50 USD
Then took a four hour train to Poroy and a 30 minute car service back to Cusco and Casa San Blas!
Don't forget to get your passport stamped!
Showered...yay!!! Ciao until tomorrow!
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