Climb above the clouds in Machu Picchu

“Basically, after five days of trekking and a 4 AM wake-up call on the final day, we arrived at Machu Picchu to see the glory of... a big cloud. Still, after hanging around a bit and hiking up Machu Picchu Mountain, the cloud started to clear up enough to finally give us the view we wanted. It was worth every second of waiting and all the work put in to get there.”

“I flew into Cusco in mid-July, winter in the Southern Hemisphere and took the train to Aguas Calientes. The morning I arrived at the ruins, the air was crisp and the mist was heavy, wrapping the terraces in a soft, ghostly veil. I walked through the ruins solo, camera in hand, hoping to spot a sprinkle of snow. But nothing. Not a flake in sight. [...] I spent a few mornings wandering alone and every day started with that magical mist clinging to the mountains.”