Friday 18th March 

We were collected from our hostel at 10am by a taxi, the guy that we'd booked the tour with was in the car to give us our tickets etc. He told us it wasn't possible to drive through Chinchero and that we'd have to drive the long way through Pisaq.

We dropped the guide off and started driving. We came to a road where there were police stopping all vehicles and our driver pulled into a side road. He was spying round the wall then jumped back in the car. (the police had stopped so many vehicles he knew he could drive straight through!) 

It took about 2 hours to get to Ollantaytambo. We grabbed a toastie and walked to the trail station. We got on the train which was so hot! It was big, nothing really like trains in the uk, but it was slow! We were on the train for about 1.5 hours, the scenery was amazing! We saw the start of the inca trail which they call 82km as that's how long it is. The river Vilcanota was also beside us and looked so rough! (you can apparently raft down this river!) 

We arrived in Aguas Calientes at about 3.30 and were met by a rep from our hostel. We walked down through a big market and the hostel was right outside the station, it was lovely! 

The town of Aguas Calientes was quite small, with the river and train track running through it. There were loads of restaurants (all seem to be pizzerias and Mexican!) there is a huge Market too.

We were told our guide would come to brief us at 6pm so we headed to the market! Haggled for some souvineers and wondered for ages. Joe spotted some locals working on the stone beside the river, he spent ages watching them (desperate to join in!) 

We headed back for our briefing where we were told to go buy bus tickets straight away (25 mins to Machu Picchu by bus from Aguas Calientes) and that we'd need to be at the bus station at 4am to get in a Q for the first bus that leaves at 5.30am! (at Machu Picchu they only let the first 400 people in climb Wayna Picchu - which we wanted to do!)

So we headed straight to buy the bus tickets then went for dinner ready for an early night (in bed by 8pm!)