Oh. My. Blog.

Early Start
Tuesday, January 30
4:40am - Wake up.
5:10am - Eat breakfast.
5:21am - Race to bus station.
5:30am - Get on bus.
6:00am - Arrive at Machu Picchu.
6:30am - Go on guided tour of ruins.
7:00am - Clouds roll in; rain starts.
9:30am - Tour ends; eat breakfast (again).

Picture Perfect
Fun Facts About the Ruins
- Machu Picchu was erected and abandoned all within the same century.
- It took 40 years and 15,000 workers to build.
- About 700 people lived there.
- It was built with tax payers' money.
- Only the king had a toilet with running water.
- It was never found by the Spanish.

Wait For It...
The rain and clouds started at 7am, but that didn't deter us from climbing Wayan Picchu, the huge-ass mountain you always see in the background of Machu Picchu photos. It took about one hour to ascend and when I got to the top everything was covered in clouds. You couldn't see a thing. Cut to two hours later and... voila! The ruins appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

Gnomar and the Incas
He just can't resist a photo opp. And the poor little guy had to wait all day for the sun to come out and pose for this shot (It's ok, though. He was playing with the token llamas in the meantime). He can now add Machu Picchu to his already impressive list of world travels. Immediately after this photo, he went to party with Shannen Doherty.

Player Pose
This is Mark and my "Playah Pose" after climbing and descending Wayan Picchu (it's the one behind us). Go ahead -- say it. Bad. Ass. I was inspired and threw up some Incan gang signs.

In all honesty, it is hard to find words to describe the site. It's massive and exqusite and perfectly engineered. It is one of those things that you cannot absorb when you are actually looking at it because it is so impacting. It is simply hard to wrap your head around. Perhaps it will make more sense in a week.

Next stop on the tour is La Paz, Bolivia. Getting on a bus (14 hours) tonight and arriving there in the morning. Well, that is the plan, anyway...