Up before the crack of dawn we were ready and packed for our trip up to Machu Picchu - we had to pack our small backpacks as the train has a weight restriction. We left our big packs at the hotel in their storage (I guess they do this often!). Richardo our Anywhere Peru host in Cusco met us at 5:45am with all of our passes and tickets for this leg of the journey. At 6 our private bus showed up and we were back on the road- a 2 hour trip - to Ollantaytambo with a bagged breakfast from the hotel. A pretty uneventful drive, as we drove through the countryside- we saw the towns stirring, also it made me realise how much poverty there is here; most of the houses are half built. They builders seems to leave rebar sticking out the top of most buildings as if they are going to build another layer at some time! Also the garbage- so much trash dumped at the side of the road- we passed a huge pile of garbage at one point and there must have been 30-40 dogs just having a feast. A short 2 hours and we were in the quaint town that is Ollantaytambo and on to the train station for our 8:30 Expedition train to Aguas Calientes's. We had time for a coffee stop at the train coffee shop and then we were crossing the tracks to our train! Finding our assigned seats and getting settled for the 1.5 hour train ride through the Andes. As we exited the city the on board staff were introducing themselves and then the refreshment cart followed. Coffee and cookies were a yummy bonus.
We enjoyed a glass roof view of the countryside passing by- all the while following the raging Urubamba river on our way through the mountains. A beautiful ride - we even passed the pint where we could see all the trekkers leaving for the 4 day Inca trail hike. We arrived in the town of Aguas Calientes's at around 9:30 and our guide Luce was there to great us as well as a guy from the hotel we would be staying at to take our bags. Then a quick water stop and we were on another bus up to Machu Picchu- this was a hair raising experience as we switched back and forth up the mountain and the town faded into the valley below. 20 minutes later we were at the gates to our destination- a S/.1 (1 soles or about 50c) bathroom break and we were being asked for our passports so we could enter the gates.
Finally we were here!! Luce was a great guide and we started our tour- past the sign dedicated to Hiram Bingham for "finding" this Inca site in 1911 and then there it was - cloudy and all filled with mystery. The rain started at this point- but nothing could take away from the beauty before us. As we admired this engineering feat- Luce started talking about the amazing buildings we were walking through. The temples all indicated by the perfect - unable to stick a blade of grass between - walls. The drainage system that was in full effect today - as water flowed downhill and away from the houses to watering fountains were the Inca's gathered their water supplies. The temple of the Sun and the temple of the 3 windows gave us extraordinary insight as to how sacred some areas of this site were- although no-one really has an idea of what it was used for. There are many theories- a place for special women only, a type of monastery, to just a vacation place for the first leader of this Incan empire. There are buildings that were most certainly living quarters and they predict maybe 500 people lived here before it was abandoned. They seem to have left in a hurry and terraces were still being built and unfinished projects litter the ruins. The rocks that make up this site - unlike a lot of the other Incan sites we have visited were from this mountain and not carried from far away. The rain continued to pour down but this didn't faze us and our 2 hours tour was over in no time. Luce left us back where we started and we had time to explore on our own. We climbed the steps up to the guard house and there was the view of Machu Picchu as seen in every travel photo of this site- at this point the rain lifted and we greeted with stunning views and picture perfect moments, it was quite a site to take in- we spent a good long time taking it all in. After this we headed back to the gate and another bathroom break- there are no facilities in the ruins themselves. Then we waited in the 20 minute or so line up to play chicken on the road down with buses coming up! Although we are visiting in low/rainy season we are very glad as it was busy enough for us and we couldn't imagine any more people in the site- it really would ruin the visit. We were back in Aguas Calientes's and trekking up the steep streets to El Mapi for our buffet lunch included in our ticket price. Finding it we took up a seat next to the window to people watch as we ate. We warmed up with some soup and then a pretty good buffet selection for lunch- including a pasta bar and ceviche station ( I also had some Alpaca stew). After this welcome break we continued our hike up to our hotel- Taypikala Machu Picchu. Checking in we headed straight for the room and mandatory rest period - thoroughly pooped we all had a nap and chilled with bad wifi!
Frank and I headed out about an hour later in search of the cheap massages this town is famous for- outside our hotel and right there was a place- we enjoyed a 30 minute massage for $20 each and felt ready to face the town after this. Collecting the girls we were in search of a light dinner. The steep Main Street is lined with places to eat and massage parlours and every one of them accosts you as you walk by to get you into theirs- a little annoying but part of the tourist trade I guess. We found a place that served Mexican type food- quesadillas and pizza for dinner- the girls played table Jenga and we watched waves of people with backpacks walk up the street after a day at the ruins. The town is just filled with backpackers and tourists. We finished up our evening at the hotel and bedtime was early as we had to be up at 4:45 to check out and try catch the sunrise up at Machu Picchu!
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