Day 3: Machu Pichu to Cuzco
I got up early to see if I could take advantage of the bird activity in the morning. I had read that Aguas Calientes is surrounded by cloud forest and many beautiful birds and animals are in the area. Unfortunately, they are hard to see around town unless one stays at the super nice/expensive Pueblo hotel at the edge of town. The trails and feeders at the hotel are famous for attracting many colorful tropical birds. In theory, one needs to be a guest at the hotel ($300/night) but when I went there, the staff said I could take advantage of their trails. I ended up seeing many amazing birds at the feeders like this amazing Blue-naped Chlorophonia who is usually near the top of the trees and difficult to see.
The electric Blue Dacnis also was a common visitor.
Another highlight was this Thick-billed Euphonia who was taking advantage of the bananas that had been put out among the trails.
As I wandered the trails mixed flocks of tanagers would pass through of which this Orange-naped Tanager was one of the many of the multi colored birds.
I also managed to see the multi-colored Gray-breasted Mountain Toucan perched near a bromeliad on one of the trails.
After a few hours birding it was time to head back up to Machu Pichu to climb Huayna Pichu. They only allow a limited number of people to climb so one has to get tickets in advance.
It takes about one hour to climb the 1000 ft mountain and it is well worth it to get a look at the ruins from an angle that is not typically seen in photos. The hike is quite steep and I was thankful that I was used to high altitude thanks to our home town of Los Alamos that is already at 7200 ft. It started raining softly making for a pretty slippery hike. By the end, visibility really went down so I felt very lucky to get such good weather the previous day. Even in the dry season, which September is in the middle of, Machu Pichu can still be fogged in so one should spend at least two days to make sure the weather cooperates. I ran into a couple who spent days on the Inca trail and then got to Machu Pichu only to find it fogged in! They had to leave before the weather cleared since they had to catch a plane out. Here is a picture of the ruins from the top of Huayna Pichu as the storm moved in. The mountain in the background is Machu Pichu mountain.
After the hike I made my way back to the train station to head back to Cuzco. The next day I would start the Amazon Rainforest part of the tour.