Game 5

 So we wake up at our hostel in Aguas Calientes at 3:00, so as to be the first people in line to get on the bus that goes up to MP.  The 4 of us need to split up.  Lucy and Toby go to wait in the MP ticket line (the ticket office opens at 515), and Kelly and I go wait in the MP bus ticket line (buses start leaving at 530).  With a million people visiting every year, you gotta get there very early.  This is because the first 400 people on the mountain get a stamp, which allows them to hike up to the top of the nearby mountain, Waynapicchu, which has the very best view of all that is Machu Picchu:

 

 Show owner asleep amidst a maze of coca-cola, bug spray and tampons. 

 

Cliche Ray-ban, mountaintop, sunny shot #1.  Thanks Luce.

So we walk up to Wayna, chill for a while, come down and hop in on some canadians guided tour of the ancient city.  It's hard to get fully into it, as most everything about the site is speculative.  "It's not about coming to Machu Picchu" attested our guide, "it is about leaving.  Go out and change the world".  "The Incas believed in 3 things: patience, love, and personality."

We hiked back down, all the way back to the hostel, and it was only about 2.  We stopped by a market and bought rice, peppers, tomatoes, avocado, plantain, carrots, a 2.5 liter of coke, etc for a guacamole stir-fry.  We took full advantage of our hostel's kitchen, in part because the one we would return to in Cusco did not have one.  The food was dank, the meal was delicious, and we all passed out around 3 with the intention of going swimming in Aguas Calientes later.  

We woke at 9, too late to swim.  Wandered around Aguas Calientes a bit, came back and went to sleep.  In the morning Toby had gotten a bunch of fruit and potatoes, we made breakfast, checked out, and began our trip back to Cusco.  Stopping at Pisac, Cusco's second biggest market, on the way.