In the heart of Cusco, Peru, the great Machu Picchu mountain stands at 10,111 feet. It overlooks Mayan ruins (7,972 feet) that were long ago abandoned. It is known far and wide as one of the iconic sites to visit. It ranks of the top of many bucket lists. It was certainly the top of mine. There are limited tickets allowed each day to climb Machu Picchu, the mountain, but I made sure I had one of those tickets before I visited Peru. It was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life.
For me, I knew that climbing Machu Picchu mountain would be a challenge. We set aside one day for Machu Picchu ruins and one day for climbing the mountain. As soon as the trip was planned, I started training. I started running stairs at work every day. Up 13 flights of stairs, over and over again to build my endurance. I’m not a small girl. I’ve always been embarrassed when my extra weight stopped me from being able to complete a goal, but I was determined to literally step up to this challenge and face my fear of “not being enough”. I lost 15 lbs just training for Machu Picchu and the climb of a lifetime. I made a commitment to myself and was determined that I would make it to the top of Machu Picchu. Thus, began my quest.
The entire trip to Peru was amazing, including Mayan ruins, salt mines, Nasca lines, llamas, Guinea pigs, and shamans! And I will write about that later. However, this story focuses on happened on top of Machu Picchu Mountain.
As expected, the mountain was a struggle, 3200 steps climbing up over 2,000 feet in altitude. which basically amounted to me climbing stairs for 3 hours solid. I struggled, but I took it one step at a time. At 12:57pm, I was about 80 steps (about 4 flights of stairs) from the top when the 28-year-old park ranger came down telling me that the summit closes at 1 pm and that I would need to head back down. I was so disappointed. I took a moment to breathe and soak up what he was saying. Then tears began streaming from my eyes. So close, but unable to continue. Unable to stop the tears.
He stood with me for a moment and waited for the tears to stop. This took a while. I apologized for the tears and told him this was a very important goal for me. He asked me my name. He said his name was Victor. He met my eyes with the kindest of looks. I could see that he was taking in what this meant to me. After a brief moment he took my hand and said in Spanish “Ok Larita (little Lara), we are going to do this! You and me to the top. You can do this, but we gotta go fast.” We covered the last 80 really steep steps in 10 minutes with Victor holding my hand all the way and even teaching me how to breathe really deeply. The altitude is thinner up there, so breathing deeply is very important.
Once at the top, he spent another 5 minutes taking all the photos to be sure I had all the “top of the world” photos that people take at the top of mountains. Including the one where you can see the Machu Picchu ruins 2000 feet below. We descended the mountain together (1-hour descent) with him holding my hand on the hard parts. I was the last person down from the mountain that day. La ultima persona!
During the descent, I had a lot of time to contemplate. Three things came to me with great clarity:
- How blessed we are that Spirit gave us such beautiful scenery in the world and never take that for granted.
- How blessed we are that Spirit gave us such beautiful people in the world like Victor to take care of each other and never take that for granted.
- Live for today, love for today. There are no guarantees. Tomorrow may never come. Live. Love. Now. Enjoy each moment. We are blessed.
Definition of Humanity: compassion, brotherly love, fraternity, fellow, feeling, philanthropy, humaneness, kindness, consideration, understanding, sympathy, tolerance
Victor, you are my sweet angel. Thank you, my friend. I am one blessed Larita! My personal victory only happened because of you, Victor. Yes, I do see the serendipity of his name. Amidst all the people visiting the top of the Machu Picchu mountain that day, I found humanity and it was the sweetest of all!
Thanks for reading, please leave a comment below. I’d love to hear where you found humanity in unexpected places!
A really lovely story – well done for all your training, I’m so hapy for you that you achieved your goal!
Thank you, Kel. It was the experience of a lifetime. Making a connection with others is the best part of traveling.
This sounds like a truly incredible experience, filled with joy, spirituality, and connection. Thank you for sharing. <3
Thanks Savannah. I have found myself very blessed when traveling. 🙂
Huge congratulations on this, what a brilliant achievement! I was talking about visiting Peru just a few days ago, and with a title like this how can I not want to! You scaled more than this (physical) mountain when you reached that summit – fab job! x
Thanks Ellie. Peru was a trip of a lifetime. It was a huge accomplishment for me and truly a spiritual experience! I will be writing a full trip blog soon, so stay tuned. I hope you get to Machu Picchu soon. Happy Travels!
This is a great post. Incredible! I want to go to Machu Picchu so bad! I’m not that fit either and I’m scared! Knowing you made it helps me feel I might be able to as well especially if I train before hand. I almost wanted to cry when he said you couldn’t go after all that hiking! It was so sweet that he had compassion for you! Humanity never fails to suprise me. Love this post ty! ♥️♥️
Teri http://millennialadulting.life
Thank you Teri. It was life-changing. I was so scared that I wouldn’t be able to do it. After accomplishing this goal, i have so much more confidence. There are times when I doubt myself, and then I remind myself that I climbed Machu Picchu. I can do anything. Thanks for connecting. I look forward to reading more of your blogs too. I love your post Being Generous on a Tight Budget
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This is such a lovely story! And congratulations for climbing to the Sun Gate! I didn’t have it in me to do that. What an incredible experience! I’m looking forward to reading your future Peru posts. 🙂
Thanks Lindsey. It was a challenge but I have so much more confidence after doing that. Whenever I get discouraged, I remind myself that I climbed Machu Picchu so I can handle any challenge that comes my way! Looking forward to staying connected with you and reading more from you too.
This sounds so amazing! I am so adding this to my Travel Bucket List! I can not wait to take these awesome journeys with you through your blog posts! Thank you for sharing!
Thanks Kari. Machu Picchu is definitely a bucket list item. Thanks for commenting.