Aguas Calientes, Machu Picchu, Peru

Let's hit the road and stick our thumbs out. After a few minutes, a truck stops. We climb onto the loading area and take a seat in a cargo moto, surrounded by eggs, chickens in sacks, and various food. When we arrive at the river where we actually wanted to go, we knock on the roof and want to get off, but the family tells us that this is not a good idea and we should ride with them over the mountains to Santa Theresa. Why not, we quickly climb back onto the loading area. The little daughter of the family joins us. The father equips us with enough blankets. The drive goes over 4000m high mountains, through small villages, past llamas and various exotic fruit trees. We all cuddle together, with little Chiara in the middle. It is extremely cold and we try not to let ourselves be seen under the blanket. To counteract the pressure of the altitude, we chew coca and lipta.

Upon arrival in Santa Theresa, we continue on foot. It should only take about 8 hours. The few cars pass us and cover us in dust, not so comfortable for our hike. We stick out our thumbs at the next car, it's worth a try. A pickup truck stops and we jump on the back. Hehe, it's the police, who give us a ride to the next town. The ride is very exciting, we zoom over the gravel road at an extreme speed, steep slope and cows on the right, 100 meters steep drop to the river on the left. The wind blows in our faces and we have to hold on tight so we don't fall down. We continue with a taxi to Hydroelectrica and from there we continue on foot. It's getting dark, but the train tracks show us the way. Above us, the Milky Way and a beautiful starry sky, around us the jungle shines, fireflies sparkle everywhere and light our way ;-) After about 2 hours, we cross a tunnel in the darkest darkness (you really can't see anything) and at the end an almost unbelievable sight is revealed to us. After all the pampas, suddenly a city shines in full splendor, illuminating the surrounding mountains so that they glow white. Aguas Calientes, the city at the foot of Machu Picchu!

The train tracks lead us directly into the city and also directly to Chared's massage studio, which is our home for the next week (yes, it has become longer than expected).

After two days of preparation for the night 'sneakin' to Machu Picchu, with checking out and resting - it's all a bit like in a movie - we set off on a Wednesday night with clear skies.

First of all, we have to cross the river, mamamia, we should have thought this path through better. We undress down to our underwear and fight our way through the river, the whole thing takes about an hour and we are completely soaked afterwards. Well, the first obstacle is overcome. Upon reaching the other 'holy side', we sit in a circle and give thanks to Pachamama (Mother Earth) for her creation, her gifts, and for leading us here and protecting us.

Full of motivation, we now trudge up thousands of steps in the dark. Our directions go something like this: go around the first curve, there you will see a steep path after a mini waterfall, after the 6th curve and the 3rd small hut, turn left into the jungle and go straight ahead - this path is a bit difficult - but you can do it :-) (you can see the description in Spanish in the photos). Yes, and all this at night and without light, a real adventure I tell you!

When we leave the staircase, we first climb up in the jungle along a water pipe. Then it seems like we really are going into the dark jungle. You can't see anything, it looks like a wall of earth and roots in front of us, yes, this is where we have to go up. We practically dive through the undergrowth, scramble through the dangling branches and vines, and pull ourselves through the thicket by holding onto trees and vines. Thousands of extremely loud insects buzz around us, and we keep getting stuck in the branches! Albero didn't believe at first that we really wanted to go up here, but somehow we have to. In our heads, phrases like "we can do it