garyandpearl

Wednesday August 17, 2016

Every day when we start the hike, we have to go through a government checkpoint to make sure that everyone is accounted for. We awoke at 3 am to the sounds of marching past our tents. Some of the tour guides made their groups get up very early and walk to their place in line at the checkpoint which opens at 5:30. This is Ernesto’s 1060th time on the trail, and so we trusted his judgement when he let us sleep in until 3:45. Breakfast was at 4:20, and we enjoyed some Quinoa porridge along with French toast and a mini sausage.

It was still dark when we took our place in line at 5:15, and shortly after 5:30, we headed uphill one more time.

We stopped to enjoy the scenery along the way.

For our final uphill challenge, we had to climb the 50 steps of the a Stairway to Heaven, otherwise known as the Gringo Killer!!

We reached the Sun Gate shortly after sunrise. This is also known as the Inti Punku Pass. You can see Machu Picchu just above Gary and I in this photo.

We enjoyed the Machu Picchu orchids along the way as we made our final descent to The Incan Stone City.

We felt a bittersweet sense of accomplishment as we gathered for our group photo; we had trained and planned for months, and now it was over. We noticed many day tourists hiking up to the Sun Gate, and they smelled really good compared to us!

After a bathroom break in a real bathroom, Ernesto gave us a guided tour of Machu Picchu, pointing out the various structures and theories associated with each.

It was very hot out this morning, and we decided to head down into the town of Aguas Calientes for some lunch. After saying thank you and goodbye to our guides, we got settled into our rooms in the New Day Hostel. We were not even in our rooms for 30 minutes when the skies opened up and it started to pour!

Before starting on our trek, a few of us decided to study the Psalms of Ascent in the Bible. These were the songs that the Jewish pilgrims would sing as they made their treks up the mountain to
Jerusalem on the way to their festivals. One that was especially significant to me was Psalm 121.
Since I learned it as a song in the King James Version, I will share this version with you:

Psalm 121King James Version (KJV)

121 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

2 My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.

3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.

4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.

6 The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.

8 The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

King James Version (KJV)
Public Domain

How these words kept running through my mind the past four days! We experienced answers to prayer in the form of good health, safety, protection from evil, strength to climb up and down the mountains, and my bad knees survived the encounter!! We have learned about the Incans over these past few days as well, and it is interesting how their religion seemed to be rooted in Judeo-Christian values. They believed in heaven, earth, and hell, and they also required a sacrifice on behalf of the people. They offered a virgin girl to their gods every 5-6 years to petition their gods for good weather and crops, but as Christians, we have Jesus who loves us and sacrificed his life once for us all..no more sacrifices are needed. Throughout the Old Testament, God continually showed his power over other gods of the earth, and today I thought of this when Almighty God, Creator of these beautiful Andean mountains, held the rains back until we had completed our trek. How I smiled and thanked God for showing his love to 12 grateful trekkers!

It thundered and poured for several hours, and we used the time to have a hot shower, nap, watch the Olympics, use a sit down toilet with real toilet paper and running water, and have our laundry done by local people.

We found a local restaurant to have some Peruvian food in tonight, but we lamented the fact that our two chefs on the trail made better food in a tent than we ate in a tourist restaurant. We shall miss our porters, cooks, and guides, but what a fantastic experience we have had!