The Hikes are Alive

Name:  Wayna Picchu Trail Address:  Machu Picchu, Peru Date of Hike:  Monday, January 28th, 2019 Duration: 2 hours Distance: Unsure Difficulty: Very Challenging ✅Historic Site  ✅Panoramic Views  🚫Shade 🚫Picnic Area  Only NOW in my research for this post did I found out that this hike is called "The Stairs of Death"... like... From inside the Machu Picchu site, you can see Wayna Picchu on the left. It's the mountain you've seen in probably every picture ever of Machu Picchu. Now it's hard to make out in this picture but there are actually stairs leading all the way to the top. According to Wikipedia, the temple at the top of Wayna Picchu was the "residence for the high priest and the local virgins." So there's that. Here's our "before" picture. So ambitious, so destined for a world of pain. Only 400 people per day are allowed to climb Wayna Picchu. You can either buy a ticket for 7:00 AM or 10:00 AM. Since t

Name: Short Inca Trail Address:  Machu Picchu, Peru Date of Hike:  Sunday, January 27th, 2019 Duration: 8 hours Distance:  10 miles Difficulty: Challenging ✅Historic Site  ✅Panoramic Views  🚫Shade 🚫Picnic Area  There is no un-pretentious way to say you hiked to Machu Picchu, which is honestly why it took me this long to sit down and be comfortable with the fact that sharing this experience is contrary to my entire relationship with social media. We're just going to pretend that liking stuff ironically is boring and outdated. 5:00 AM - 7:00 AM : Bus from Cusco to Ollantaytambo 7:00 AM - 8:00 AM : Breakfast 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM : Train from Ollantaytambo to KM 104 After our 5:00 AM bus leaves Cusco and drives 2 hours to the small village of Ollantaytambo, we board a train that goes to Aguas Calientes. For people that don't hike the Inca Trail, there are buses that run from Aguas Calientes up to Machu Picchu. If you do hike the trail, you can get off at "KM 10