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7:30 pm - Back in Cusco, we tried a few other hotels to see if we could find one with internet in the rooms, but after no luck, went back to the Hostel Loreto for our final night. We met up with Aj, Shelly, Anne Marie, and Jen (4 of our trek groupmates) at Jack's Cafe for our final dinner. Once again, the food didn't disappoint, and we went to bed full and happy to be sleeping on a real mattress!
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4:45 am - Shortly after we went to sleep last night, it started to rain again. Our porters woke us up 15 minutes early at 4:45 am and this time it wasn't as friendly - no tea delivered to our tent. They told us breakfast was ready, so we took that to mean we should go eat and pack up later. We hiked down to the breakfast tent and then they told us we needed to fill our water now and, when we went to get our water bladder, other porters then told us to pack up all of our stuff. Needless to say, our breakfast was cold by the time we got done with all that and the porters were hovering over us trying to take away anything we didn't need anymore (including the light over our heads!). We found out later all of the craziness was because of a 6am train that they all wanted to catch back instead of having to wait until 4pm. Well, we all wished we had known that and could have been more prepared the night before. It definetly got the morning off to a sour start (given we were already so exhausted and it was raining). 
6am - We started our hike to Machu Picchu with very stiff and sore muscles from the day before. It was still raining, so we covered up in our ponchos and just tried to keep a positive attitude (this was very tough!). Anytime we would stop to take pics, we would end up towards the back of the group - so we pretty much hiked this part of the trail by ourselves. The assistant guide, Rubin, showed up behind us at one point, while we were climbing some huge steps (about 2 feet tall each step). He said, "these are the last steps". We weren't happy to find many more after these - but I guess it depends on if you call 1.5 foot steps, steps :). Either way, we pushed on.
8 am - We reached the top lookout over the Machu Picchu ruins and were in awe at the size of the site. The view of Machu Micchu with high peaks of the Andes mountains on all sides was stunning. We used the opportunity to grab a few photos while waiting for the rest of our group to gather up. 
9 am - Finally inside Machu Picchu, Omar gave us a 2 hour tour of most of the site. No one really knows the true purpose of the city of Machu Picchu, since there are no records. Omar's theory is that it was a secret University for the Inca royalty (and conquered royalty), and their sons. Other theories believe it to be a vacation spot for the Incas, or a religious santuary or monastery. Regardless, it was a beautiful place to live and any Incan was surely very lucky to have lived there. Omar showed us the Temple of the Sun, an extraordinary example of Inca stone work. Next to the temple was a living space for the high priest including its own bathroom (a hole in the side of the wall near the floor). The other living quarters were dormatory style with a communal kitchen (supporting Omar's theory that Machu Picchu was a university). Behind Machu Picchu rises a sharp peak next to 2 smaller ones. The Inca's thought the peaks a symbol of the Condor. They believed that there were 3 worlds - the world of the sky, symbolized by the condor, the world on the land, symbolized by the Puma, and the world under the ground, symbolized by the snake. There are many references to the condor in the spaces of Machu Picchu. 
While Omar had mentioned that much of what we know about the Incan culture is speculation, he gave the tour and recited much as if it was fact. At some points, he contradicted himself, and Mario called him out on a few of those items (reminescing his college student/professor days :). Of course, this annoyed our guide a bit :) - but Mario felt it important to point out what our tour was was really a poetic story from a descendant of the Incan people - thus a bit more on the romantic illumination of the Incan people. As there are many theories out there, Mario just wanted to illustrate that Omar picked the most favorable theories, and brought them to light in front of us - but of course - who really knows what went on in Machu Picchu, or what the real Incan way of life was. Either way, it was still an entertaining tour/story to be told :).
After our tour, we had some free time to wander around the ruins and explore. We went up to see some of what would be the classrooms of the university and found it to be very peaceful. I spent some time just sitting near a ledge that had an amazing view of the Andes and the Urubamba river far below. It really made me feel tiny sitting up there with an enormous landscape all around me. Mario climbed back up to the entrance gate to get a few nore photos, since the sun had evaporated the clouds and was beaming on to the ruins. He encountered a few of the friendly llamas that are found wandering all over Machu Picchu. 
12:30 pm - We caught the bus down to the small town of Aguas Calientes. During our bus ride, we were entertained by a boy who ran down the stone steps as fast as our bus could go around each switchback. He waved and shouted at the bus, cheering us on at each level on the way down, and finally the bus driver let him on at the bottom. Of course, this was all to get a few tips from the tourists, and it worked. We gave him 1 Sole ($0.30) for his effort and because Mario took a picture of him :) We decided to go check out the hot springs with another of our groupmates, Ag (from Australia). It was a long 10 minute walk up to the top of town with our sore legs, but we made it and payed the $3 fee. The hot springs consisted of a few small square pools of varying temperature waters. Didn't look too clear, but we decided hot springs are supposed to be natural, so we got in and it felt good to soak our muscles for a little bit. Refreshed, we walked back to the train tracks and met up with the rest of our group for lunch. We were famished and devoured our family size pizza in no time!
4 pm - The train back to Cusco was a very slow moving long 4 hour ride. We took a well needed nap and after that enjoyed the scenery along the Urubamba river. After 3 hours, we got off and took a bus for 15 minutes to Cusco's Plaza de Armas instead of the next hour of train (our guide told us this was a quicker option and we just wanted to get there as fast as possible)!
Our days of the Inca Trail were over, but we were proud to have done it in the 3 days instead of the 4. While we were exhausted, we felt honored to be able to walk amongst this six hundred year old sacred city and feel a piece of history come alive along our walk. 