Machu Picchu

We visited Machu Picchu on April 2nd, a day full of magic and beauty, which I will never forget. I had been looking forward to this day since arriving in South America and therefore built up the day in my head, needless to say my expectations were high. And before telling you the story, I can't help but reveal that every expectation was exceeded and more.
Karen, Graham, Phil and I decided to head to Machu Picchu for the sunrise, which meant having breakfast and catching the bus before 5:30AM. We made it to a very foggy Machu Picchu at 6:00AM, and although we did not see a sunrise, we did see the clouds lift and float over the most spectacular ruins. At 7:00AM, we headed in different directions, Karen and Graham hiked to Inkapunka, a trek towards the south, and Phil and I to Wayna Picchu, the mountain towering over Machu Picchu in the North. While on our hikes, my mom and dad arrived just as the fog cleared and hiked to the Funary for the famous view of the ruins. Phil and I hiked up for about an hour, which gave us lots of time on the top to watch Machu Picchu and the surrounding mountains reveal themselves. It was most spectacular. We couldn't have asked for a better day, as far as weather was concerend. Phil, as we walked down the precarious rock steps in fact kept repeating, "it is a beautiful day," and he kept on repeating it as we met our parents, who were waiting for us at the enterance of Wayna Picchu. They all had wonderful mornings, and all six of us were thrilled to be now sharing the magic of Machu Picchu together. We sat on an ancient wall, looking at the ruins, telling our stories of the mornings activities, while Phil kept repeating¨"it is a beautiful day." And then, all of a sudden, Phil was facing us all, and announced how happy he was we were all sharing it together, and then he reached into his pocket and at the same moment knelt down infront of me, and asked me to marry him. All I could do was wrap my arms around him and say yes. So, in the middle of Machu Picchu we created quite a scene; parents crying and hugging, Phil and I embracing, groups of people around us cheering. For the rest of the day, I floated around Machu Picchu, admiring the sites and my finger. Throughout the day at the ruins and back in town, we were congradulated by strangers, who had either witnessed the event or heard of it. At around 3:00PM, we met for pizza and pisco sours to celebrate the day, and then we headed to the train for our extended four hour journey back to Cusco (the train had some power difficulties at one point, so we were delayed, but entertained by wonderful singers in our car).