4:30 AM
Day 4
Inca Trail











We camped at Winay Wayna at the end of day 3. The facility included a hotel, an indoor cafeteria and bar, and a cinco soles hot shower. We were in our tents. We said our goodbyes to our cook and porters at dinner, the night before. It poured rain most of the night, so much that one of us proclaimed, "Este es la basura!," while pointing to the tents to one of the porters in the early hours of the morning. I stayed relatively dry except for my increasing pile of wet clothes. We arose around 4:00 for a quick breakfast and then we got in line at the last Inca Trail checkpoint, where a government official looks at your ticket, and allows you to proceed for an hour or so on the trail to Machu Picchu. The plan was to get to Machu Picchu early enough and watch the misty clouds burn off, to reveal what we had so anticipated to see.