Last day of trekking

One last full day (5ish hours) of hiking, then an evening of rest at a proper hotel before heading up to Machu Picchu.  The day started out with a climb of from ~7,000 to ~9,000 ft, but it was a long steady downhill to ~5,800 ft after that.  At this point we're travelling on one of the original Inca trails.  Here's one of their original retaining walls on a section of the trail.

And an original set of steps.  The Inca were a diminutive bunch- as are there mountain-dwelling descendants- but most of the steps we encountered were of the "big boy" variety.  I'm guessing not too many of the Inca had chicken legs like me.

After 2.5 or so hours or so of uphill grinding, here we are at the Llactapata Pass, the high point for the day's hike.  Everyone was pretty pumped at this point, as the hard work was over, and thoughts were straying to Machu Picchu. 

We were in some pretty muggy jungle conditions for a couple of hours here.  Once I found out how to recognize citronella, I rubbed it on my legs to supplement the Deet. 

Soon we arrived at the Llactapata ruins.  Their exact significance is unclear, but they are aligned across the valley from Machu Picchu, and it appears they were somehow affiliated with the sacred city.

Machu Picchu is off in the distance to the left of Rhonda's right hip here.

The next stop was one of my favorites on the entire trip, a backpacker pitstop/restaurant that is owned by a relative of our assistant guide, Wilder.  If there's a meal that beats fried local trout and taters with Machu Picchu off in the distance, I wanna hear about it.

Nothing but downhill for the rest of the day, but we got some great views out the deal.

Once we finally got down to the valley floor, we couldn't help but marvel at the mountain we'd just descended.

Nice team celebration moment as we spent a little cerveza time down at the train station down in the valley.  We'd have a short train ride to the town of Aguas Calienties for a hotel stay, and then Machu Picchu the following day.  For now, though, we were all firmly in celebration mode.  Here we are toasting to a successful trek with Wilder.

After a brief, but interesting train ride (Fashion show?  Carnival characters?) we arrived in Aguas Calientes.  Nice hotel with a great restaurant.  Rhonda indulged in a massage while I had a couple of male bonding pisco sours with 2 of my Alabama pals.  Reality setting in all around; we're going to Machu Picchu tomorrow!