The next morning, we were up at 5am, planning to catch the first 5:30am bus up to the ruins. Amazingly, when we got there at 5:20, we realized there are over 100 people in line before us already! And there were dozens of buses lined up... what a zoo. It was so busy, we worried about missing sunrise - the reason we got up so early! As it happened, we had plenty of time, as the sun doesn't peak over the mountains until much later. We waited for a while at a nice viewpoint, in order to get some sunrise shots, and then we quickly ran away from there before the true crowds arrived. We hiked up to the Sungate, and then to the top of Machu Picchu mountain, which was over 800 meters of elevation gain, and we saw only about 4 people total! It was a nice conditioning hike before our Huayhuash hike, and gave us a nice birds-eye view of the ruins. After we had enough of hanging out at the top and enjoying the views, we came down, walked through the ruins one last time, and headed back down to town. A dip in the hot springs that the town is famous for, a great dinner, and we were on our way back to Cuzco!

And next, the Huayhuash!

	The train ride from Cuzco to Aguas Calientes is next to this beautiful river		Arriving in Aguas Calientes

	Our hotel	Waiting for sunrise

		The switchbacks are the road the buses take. View from the Sungate	Sungate. At summer solstice, sunrise perfectly illuminates Machu Picchu from here

	Next hike, to the top of Machu Picchu mountain	Next valley over

		The top of the mountain

	Machu Picchu as seen from the top

		The flag & summit as seen from Machu Picchu: fairly long way!

			Unbelievable room at the Loki hostel in Cuzco

	This is a hostel!?	Hotel room view of Cuzco