A Perfect Proposal

After an early night, we were waiting at the entrance gates to Machu Picchu when they opened at 6 am. There were about 30 or so people in line in front of us, but because we knew where we were going from the day before, we were the first to arrive at the guard tower that morning intending to watch the sunrise. Unfortunately, the clouds did not cooperate with our plans and so there was no sunlight to be had for the first couple of hours but even just watching the clouds move through the city was a sight to behold. We staked out the guard tower for a while taking pictures of the resident llamas or of the city when there was a break in the clouds. Everything about this trip had been magical to this point and an experience that I will cherish and be grateful for having the rest of my life but it was on this morning that my life was truly changed. Tim grabbed my hands, looked in my eyes and said that sunrise or no sunrise, he loves me and wants to spend his life with me and as I stood there shocked and teary eyed, he gets down on his knee (the good one), and pulls a ring out of his pocket as he asked me to marry him. A small group of onlookers cheered as I said ''YES!'' and my brother (who knew Tim's plan) and my sister in law (who did not) got pictures of the whole thing as it unfold. I will forever get to laugh and tease at the fact that Tim proposed to me with coco leaves in his mouth and he gets to laugh and tease that the reason his bag was so heavy was because he was carrying a big rock around with him, but truly the experience could not have been more perfect for either of us. The rest of the day was a bit of a blur. We walked to the Inca Bridge, explored every corner of the Machu Picchu ruins and then reluctantly headed to the buses to take us to Agua Caliente where we had lunch before meeting up with Teddy and hopping on the train back to Ollantatambo and ultimately the drive back to Cusco.