Machu Picchu

I had big expectations for Machu Picchu. HUGE expectations. Highly unrealistic expectations.
Or so I thought.
From the moment I set eyes on this citadel in the sky, I was enthralled and verklempt.
Watching as the clouds obscured, then revealed, then concealed, then illuminated the beautiful Incan buildings, perfectly in symmetry with the stunning scenery high up in the Peruvian cloud forest.
Photos, video, words simply don't do it justice.
It was worth all the hassle and expense of getting there. Worth the $110 for the train tickets, worth the $25 in bus tickets, worth the $70 admission, worth the hour-plus queue for a ticket, worth the $65 sleepless night in Agua Calientes so I could get to the site at dawn, worth the rain that arrived every time a cloud rolled in, worth the jostling of hundreds of tourists.
It was worth every single bit.
The only downside for me, was the absence of my dear friend Eelin, who would have been here with me had not an emergency kept her in New York.
On the upside? I get to come back here and see it all over again with her.