The problem is we now have to wait 1 1/2 hours, until 5:30, when the control opens. We are lucky to have seats on the bench, as there aren't many, but it starts to get really cold and its impossible to sleep. We snack on the boxed breakfast, but it is rather horrible - stale bread sandwiches with polony and cheese... The hours drag and other groups slowly arrive, until the queue is huge! Some people are passing the time by singing bad karaoke to old songs, while we play games on cellphones.
Eventually the control is open, a few minutes early, and suddenly we are passing through and getting ready to run! Adrenaline is running high - we now have an hour to reach the sun gate, and apparently it can get pretty insane as people run to be the first there, passing each other on the steep cliffs... The young Danes disappear as usual, and Van, Wendy, Michelle and I are setting a great pace! We encounter a number of flat areas and use these to go as fast as we can. Soon we reach some members of the first group, and Wendy shouts "porters!". They get disorientated and we manage to pass them! We climb various fights of stairs, and eventually reach the dreaded "gringo killer" - a series of around 100 really steep steps that are rumored to stop even the fittest gringos! We conquer them, but this is not the top, and we keep going! Another set of hectic stairs and we know we are there! We reach Inti Punku - the sun gate around 6:10, it takes us less than 40 minutes to get here.
We catch the first sight of Machu Picchu amid beautiful sunrise coloured mountains... Mikkel and Justin are there, and only maybe 5 or 6 other hikers. The citadel looks small and far away, but magical from this viewpoint. We take lots of pics and enjoy the increasing light as the sun starts to rise. Soon the others arrive, and we all hug and celebrate the fact that we made it! Even Lorna was super fast on this last leg of the trail, we are so proud of her!
We pose for a group photo, and then head down to another point where we watch the sun gradually rise over Machu Picchu. 
After a few more pics we head down, and the classic postcard picture from the hut of the caretaker of the funerary rock, after arguing with some selfish tourists who are hogging the best spot to take a million iphone videos... The mountain in the background of the below pic is Wayna Picchu, which we climb later...
We then actually leave Machu Picchu to meet Bev, Sandy and Mike at the reception. We have a few minutes to go to the toilet (S1) and buy water before going in. There are no loos or shops inside Machu Picchu. We go through the security, and drop our bags at the safe storage (S3), before getting everyone together to start the tour. Jonathan is our tour guide for this leg of the trip as well.
We head inside the Machu Picchu ruins, it is so impressive and large, much more so than all the ruins we saw in Cusco, the Sacred Valley and the Inca trail. There are many of the usual Inca terraces, as well as small buildings and a temple in the centre. There are tourists swarming everywhere and for a moment I miss the relative peacefulness of the Inca trail. We can also see the sun gate from here, and the long path we followed to get down.
Jonathan gathers us around and explains. Hiram Bingham, an American scientist from Yale university came to Peru in the 1900s in search of the ancient city of Vilcabamba. He started an exhibition from Cusco, but was not able to find anything. Eventually he reached the town of Aguas Calientes, where he asked if anyone knew of Vilcabamba. Everyone said no. Finally he met a man who also said no, but mentioned he had heard of a place high in the mountains, maybe this was the place Bingham was looking for? Hiram asked him if he would take him there, but he said no. For 1 and 2 soles, he also said no. When Hiram offered 3 soles, the guy accepted, and they started an exhibition into the Andean mountains. Eventually they found Machu Picchu in 1911, although Hiram thought it was Vilcabamba! (he went to his grave believing this). Everything was almost completely covered in jungle. At that time there were indigenous people living on the site.
Hiram went back to Cusco, and then the United States, and kept completely quiet about his discovery until he reached Yale. There he got more money to continue his exploration and went back to Peru to get permission from the government to start to clear the area. The government of Peru thought Bingham was just a crazy gringo and simply granted permission without any questions being asked. Bingham went on to clear the site of the jungle vegetation and explore the ruins and made some incredible discoveries. He payed the locals living there to relocate away from the site. All of the artifacts discovered at the site were shipped to Yale university in the USA. To this day most of the artificacts are still there, and only 15% have been repatriated. Some of these items are now on display in Cuzco museum. The Peruvian government continues to put pressure on Yale to return the items, but the progress is slow because special storage conditions are required to preserve the items.
Jonathan leads us to the temple area, the stones here are different - perfectly cut and fitted without any mortar, indicating an important place. The temple is roughly semi-circular and we start at the bottom, at what they call the royal tomb, a natural rock cave with sacred niches. There is a small altar area with a zigzag shape representing the Incan trilogy. 
We see a small window high up above us. This window faces directly East, and the sun shines through directly through it in the 21st June - Winter solstice. There is another window facing South East towards the sun gate, through which the sun shines directly on the summer solstice.
We pass through an impressive gate, built in the typical "earthquake proof" trapezoidal style, called the gate of the sun, which was the only access to the temple of the sun. There are stone mounting points around the gate which could have been used to mount a door or covering.
We also see a recreation of the Inca buildings. The recent reconstruction of the stonework is less impressive than the original Inca.There is a grass roof, showing what it would have looked like, the grass is attached with strings to circular stones jutting out from the main structure.
Up at the top, we reach the sun temple and sacred plaza. Here Jonathan shows us the temple of the three windows, and a half Inca cross, when the sun shines on it the shadow completes the cross. On the solstice, the cross is perfect. 
Archeologists believe that this cross predates the Inca civilization and that the site was used since ancient times. 
To the right is the principal temple, part of which is damaged, and archeologists thought this was caused by the earthquake in the last century. This was disproved, as in Hiram Bingham's photos, the damage was already there. Some theorise the damage is due to ground settling rather than earthquakes or structural weaknesses.
Jonathan shows us a garden that has been planted, it shows all the native and important plants from Peru, such as coca, and many beautiful orchids. 
He also points out an Inca compass, similar to the southern cross. It has the three points at the top, forming a triangle, and the last point further away a the bottom. He holds his iPhone on compass mode to prove that the incas really knew North from South.
Next we climb ever further up, to the major shrine in Machu Picchu, the Intihuatana or "hitching post of the sun". As I am sitting in one of the niches, Uncle John freaks me out by tickling my neck from behind. Here there is a large carved rock pillar, often mistaken as a sundial, but actually used by the Inca to determine when the solstices will be. There are also two windows - one pointing to the sun gate, and one in the other direction, also important for the solstice. There is a large clearing in the area below and beyond is another complex of buildings, thought to be the residential area. We can see a couple of llamas grazing peacefully in the clearing.
We start making our way down, and eventually end up at the entrance to Wayna Picchu. This is the peak next to Machu Picchu, and from this vantage point it looks incredibly high! The entrance cost is US$70, and it needs to be booked in advance as a limited number of people (200 per day) are allowed to climb it. We had decided not to do it, as it seemed expensive, but to our surprise, Jonathan has tickets for all of us, except the Danes. After a crazy early start, hard walk, and extremely hot sun, most people decide not to attempt the climb, but Van, Wendy, Mike, Uncle John, Michelle and I are willing to give it a try.
We go through the entrance and soon we are climbing incredibly steep steps again, even worse than the Inca trail, winding our way up the mountain. We see signs to the little mountain, an easier walk, and wish we had known about it, as some of the group may have considered this option. We keep climbing and it seems to get gradually steeper and steeper. After about an hour of hard, hot walking, we see a temple near the top. This comes as a surprise to us, these Incas really are crazy to carry this stuff up here! From here it gets kind of dangerous, there are rope holds in some places but not others, and the drop is extreme should any of us lose their footing. There are Inca terraces and we stop for cool photos directly over Machu Picchu. 
But we are still not at the top. We go over some more tricky areas and then through a tunnel. The last part involves climbing a ladder and then scrambling over flat rocks, we have finally made it to the top! For those afraid of heights, this has been an enormous challenge, and all of us are exhausted! We take more cool pics, sitting on a rock that looks like a chair.
Then we go around the mountain to find the way down.
Turns out the way down is even more scary, and we have to tiptoe across some cracks in the rock, and then down unbelievably steep stairs, they are small, narrow and steep, and the view is beautiful and terrifying. It takes us a while, but finally we get the whole team down, and we sure feel relieved.
I have got quite a bad headache, a bit dehydrated I think. We take our final pics of the site and exit Machu Picchu.
Upstairs inside the restaurant we are greeted with more claps and cheers from the entire group! We sit down and order much needed water, and pizzas for lunch. We fill in feedback forms for Jonathan, get our duffel bags back, and then say our farewells, making sure to him him good tips. Everyone is tired but in good spirits, sharing beers and cocktails and desserts. We decide that we won't have time for dinner later, so we order another course of food! A large sesame chicken hamburguesa for Van, and salad for Nix...
Next we walk to Aunty Bevs hotel to retrieve our swimming gear, she was kind enough to carry them for us rather than us take them on the Inca trail. We walk through the main square of Aguas, it's a pretty happening place, with lots of music and people chilling and drinking. 
The main street that follows is much the same, this is a real tourist town with a million restaurants and bars, all trying to tempt us in with happy hour and meal specials... Instead we buy Inca trail patches at a shop, and then find the hot pools. These are natural hot pools, which the town is names after (Aguas Calientes = hot water).
We pay our 10 soles entrance fee and get changed, leaving our bags at the security drop for 1 sole. We see Dad, Uncle John, Neil and Kiera, and Mikkel and Justin already enjoying the hottest of the hot pools. We climb in, a bit freaked out about the fact that 100s of people probably come off the Inca trail and then get clean in these pools without showering properly first... It smells a bit sulphurish but this is from the springs themselves. The water is extremely soothing and feels wonderful on our aching muscles. We stay in for quite a while, reminiscing with out new friends about our adventures together. We see a sign saying if we wave our hands we can order drinks, some try it - the barman comes down to get our order. He is a real gem - long black hair and moustache. We order beers with the Danes and feel even better.
Once we are done the sun is starting to set, and we pop to Apu Salcantay to retrieve all our bags. We meet up with Dad and John again and find the train station together. We board the train back to Ollantaytambo, which departs at 6:45. Bev has been upgraded to first class,but she is on her own. Wendy is sitting with the Danes, and we are with Brendon and Lorna. Dad and John are opposite some extremely loud and extremely drunk young American girls. Waiters take drinks orders but we still have a little bottle of cape velvet left, bottoms up. They then come around again and give us small snacks and complimentary coffees. The waiter is a short, shy bespectacled guy.
We start to fall asleep, exhausted from a really early start and really busy day! But suddenly the train jolts to a sudden stop, feels like it has hit something! Attendants are running around and radioing, while the waiters are trying to remain calm. We sit for a while before there is an announcement telling us there has been a landslide and it will be a while before it is cleared. We fall asleep again, and then the train starts moving. The next time we wake up, there is loud Andean music, and our shy little waiter has donned a flamboyant costume and mask, and he is dancing energetically down the aisles, a complete 180 degree switch from his regular personality!! He dances with a few of the drunk Americans, who willingly oblige. Later they head to the toilet and there is more commotion as one of them has possibly passed out in there....
Finally we reach OliverTambo about an hour later than planned, our Chimu representative is there to meet us, and they bus us back to Cusco. Another 2 hours, a lot quieter this time as everyone has passed out. Back in Cusco, we are again staying at the Casa Andina Koricancha, we grab our bags from safe storage and enjoy a wonderful hot shower before thoroughly enjoying our comfy mattresses and warm duvets!
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