We were really lucky as the weather called for a 40-60% chance of rain from 10AM - 3PM. Thankfully, no rain and blue skies prevailed.
We purchased the MP + Mountain ticket which gave us 9-10AM access to the mountain. We arrived at the Mountain gate early (at 8AM) which was locked, but thankfully, our tour guide knew the security guard who agreed to unlock the gate and let us in early. It was a good thing since we really needed the extra time to hike up the mountain. We originally wanted to hike Huayna Picchu, but tickets were sold out so we opted for Mountain which has much higher elevation and for me, painful. My interpretation of this 'hike' was basically equivalent to the stair master from hell. The combination of being out of shape and altitude had me chugging slowly up the entire trail. However, I was so relieved when we all agreed to turn back that I practically floated down to the base.
Anyway, it was a great day and MP is absolutely stunning. I feel very blessed and humbled to have this checked off our bucket list.
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| Aguas Calientes |
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| View from MP Mountain |
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| We actually climbed up to this point on MP Mountain and then headed back down. This is a little past the halfway point (according to our guide) and the climb down only took about 20 minutes, but the climb up to this point took over an hour (with breaks and photo ops). |
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| No need to climb MP Mountain to get this view - lots of great photos can be taken from the main levels surrounding MP |
