minimunchkin: Huayna Picchu and Huchu'y Picchu

Today we hike Huayna Picchu (also called Wayna Picchu), the mountain behind the Machu Picchu. Before we got here, we looked up the hike and from what we read, we were pretty sure that Mia would not be able to do this. The photos of the mountain which we saw online showed very steep inclines, and the description and pictures of the stairs of death were frightening! So the plan was for Ryan and Shad to go up while Mia and I would wait for them down in Machu Picchu. But when we got here, our guide Rueben keep insisting that we just could not miss the hike and that Mia would be absolutely fine going up. Only 200 tickets are issued each day for Huayna Picchu and they're usually bought out months ahead so we were very lucky to have them.

That's Huayna Picchu in the background. I had some serious doubts that we would make it up.

7am, start of our hike.

There are still many more undiscovered sites all around the mountains. This is one of many, located slightly further down from the lost city.

Taking a breather.

Both kids did really well. It wasn't east of Mia, many of those steps came up to her knees so it took a lot of effort for her to climb them.

About half way to the top and the views of Machu Picchu were stunning.

The stairs of death! Looks much steeper and narrower in pictures than it actually is.

One hour and twenty minutes later, we're here!

The highest peak of Huayna Picchu

And now it's time to head down. While it was much quicker, it was also a lot harder on the old knees 😓.

Leading the pack.

Ryan was so hyped when we got to the top that he asked to hike to Huchu'y Picchu, the smaller lookout instead of going straight down from Huayna Picchu.