Today started either very late or very early, depending on how you look at it. I had my alarm set for 3:30AM so I could go and get in line for Machu Picchu tickets. Whenever I have early alarms like this I sleep terribly with anticipation. I checked the time hourly from 10PM onwards, and then just got up at 3. I was in line by 3:30 and the line was already 3 blocks long. There was a party in the restaurant next to us still raging.

The wait was eventful. At 4:30 the above party wrapped up and everyone stumbled home. Everyone in the line freaked out when a rat ran past us. It seemed like a nearby building was on fire. And a dog patiently waited beside me for 30 minutes as if it really wanted a ticket for Machu Picchu.

Nick and Millie came to meet me just before the ticket office opened at 6AM, since they needed to be present to get tickets. The guys in front of me had been complaining about single people holding a spot for larger groups that cut in closer to 6, but I didn’t feel too bad. There was no way I’d drag a 5 year old out there at 3AM.

The line moved pretty quickly and we got our tickets at 7:30AM. At this point they were more than halfway sold out, so I’d guess anyone who got in line after about 5AM probably didn’t get a ticket.

The whole time in line I contemplated tourism. What were we doing? Why were we here? What is it about Machu Picchu that compels us get to this remote town and then wait in a line in the middle of the night to see some old ruins? Has it always been like this or has it exploded as a result of social media? What would the Incans think of this?

We walked back to our hotel by 8 and I was exhausted. We had a quick breakfast and then took it easy by watching a Natgeo documentary about Machu Picchu. We hoped this would get Millie excited but it was all about the skeletons they found there so it mostly just freaked her out.

I took an hourlong nap while she played cards with Nick. When I woke up we went out for lunch and then spent about 15 minutes walking around the town. It is not very big and mostly dedicated to tourism, though we did come upon a large celebration at the local church. I’m not sure what it was for but it was very lively.

We spent most of the afternoon playing soccer on the large field we played on last night. Nick got Millie a ball and we all took turns playing on fake teams with each other. I love soccer and hope Millie will get into it.

After a couple of hours we headed back to the hotel room to rest. We did some reading and watched even more TV.

Then we headed out once more and went right back to the big field. It was full of people now, including all the people from the church celebration earlier. Lots of different groups in traditional outfits. We were especially interested in all the dead(?) baby llama accessories. I’m pretty sure these are real (each had teeth and hooves), possibly stuffed baby llamas. They were worn like backpacks and tied onto floats as decoration.

As the sun went down, there were a bunch of kids playing. We bought Millie a ball which made it really easy for her to make friends. She played volleyball with a group of 10 year olds until we left for dinner. (she is in the background of the below photo)

We walked to dinner and unfortunately Millie’s lack of sleep caught up with her. She refused to eat much and then accidentally spilled my drink and had a hard time calming down, so we had to leave early. On our walk back we noticed that there was already 2 blocks of a line for tomorrow’s tickets. Apparently it’s a local bank holiday so it’s extra busy and people started lining up a full 12 hours before the ticket office opened. It suddenly made my ridiculous 3AM wake up call feel luxurious.