I awoke with the alarm at 0445 - first time I have needed one for ages - I think I had become attached to the bed which was lovely after 3 nights in a sleeping bag on a thin blow up mattress.
After breakfast, at 0600, we left to join the bus queue which stretched up the street - that said it only took 30 minutes for the queue to reach us and we were on the bus winding our way up to Machu Picchu. Passports and tickets at the ready we we were soon inside and looking at one of the 'seven wonders of the world' - it was worth it. We then listened to Bobby as he explained the history, how the site was divided into two areas urban and agricultural and showed us some of the Inca construction techniques and culture. He explained that although Hiram Bingham from Yale is credited with bringing Machu Picchu (old mountain) to the world it was in fact found by 3 local Peruvian farmers. Sadly there is still a dispute between the Peruvians and Americans as they rightly want all the artifacts Bingham removed returned to where they belong - the Americans continue to stall....
After Bobby's tour we walked to the watchman's hut to get the iconic picture ( showing the settlement with Wayna Picchu ( young mountain behind) before making our way out - the site was now getting crowded and it was very hot. Luckily we did not have to queue for a bus - unlike those who left later - and we were soon in town having a coffee and a none too special sandwich - however when we met up with the others for desert the icecream with coffee poured over it (affrogato) more than made up for it.
At 2.25 we met back at the hotel, collected our luggage and made our way to the train station for the return journey. Once in Ollyantaytambo we jumped on a coach which took us back to Cusco. As it was late, for us @1930, we quickly dumped our stuff and went out for something light to eat - a veggie wrap ( bacon for John) at Macdonalds and a coffee at Starbucks - very westernized - but the coffee is guaranteed hot and the wrap freshly made !