We had a 5:30 wake-up. Most people made it to breakfast and everyone was ready for the two vans that took us down to the central plaza at 6:15. We boarded our bus and met Cosme, our guide for the day. A lot of people managed to sleep some during the 2-hour ride to Ollantaytambo. Once we got there, we boarded a Peru-rail car and began an hour and a half ride down the Vilcanota River Gorge to the town of Machupicchu .

The gorge is more than 300m deep. We were out of the glacially carved part, descending toward the Pacific. The river is nothing but class III, IV, V whitewater for the entire distance. Magnificent views of the surrounding peaks are beautiful and Inca terraces decorate the slopes most of the way. The vegetation became more jungle-like as we descend to our lowest point on the trip at the town of Machupicchu at about 6800'. We got on a bus that took us up the steep, narrow, winding road that seemed to have an oncoming descending bus at every curve.

We got off of the bus and went to the entrance but David, Paige, and Patrick did not have their student ID cards and Will's was so beat up that they wouldn't accept it. I argued futilely, with the woman at the office but ended up paying an extra 160 soles to get them in.

Once we got in we were stunned by the majesty of the place. It is just like the photos, only more. We scanned the ruins and finally saw the rest of the group high above us and began to climb the steep steps. The 7800' elevation made breathing easy for us, after Bolivia and Cusco . A guard told me I couldn't use my walking stick because of the metal tip. Rather than arguing that quartz and feldspar, the major minerals in the Machu Picchu granite are harder than steel, I just accepted their bamboo stick. We met the others near the top of the terraces in the agriculture sector.

Will, Dave, and Liz held a memorial ceremony for Will's friend, complete with coca and Jallallas. We followed Cosme around the ruins so that we saw all of the major highlights of the site: the quarry, Temple of the Sun, Temple of Three Windows, the astronomical observatory, and the “Mortuary”. The lighting and weather were perfect but by 2:30 most were ready for lunch. Everyone swore that they would return in the future.

We took a bus down to a restaurant in the town where Cosme had made a reservation. We admired a poster of the last supper with Inca chieftains as the disciples. Everyone was ecstatic with the day. It was too bad that Jay didn't come. The train ride back up the gorge was as spectacular as the descent. It was dusk by the time we got on the bus at Ollantaytambo and we drove back to Cusco in the dark, arriving around 8:00.

Almost everyone ate at the Pachapapa. We were inside because of an early evening downpour. I had a delicious Alpaca steak. After dinner, a bunch of us went to a small dive bar next to the hotel. We stayed until midnight before returning to the hotel and going to bed. A free morning is scheduled for tomorrow.