It was well after dark on Thursday 5 April when our train finally arrived in Aguas Calientes train station, the end of the line. We had learned on the journey that there may only be a limited number of entrance tickets to Machu Picchu per day, so we immediately headed to the ticket office. Fortunately we were able to get tickets without any trouble. Next we walked to the bus station (still with all our things) to buy tickets for the bus to the ruins. Only then did we head off to find our hostel, which turned out to be two thirds the way up the steep main road - what a slog. The room was great though - small but private, but a normal shower that actually got hot! We had a quick shower, grabbed some food and then crashed into bed, the alarm set for 04:30.

Friday we were exhausted but somehow managed to haul ourselves out of bed. Even at 5am there was already a long queue of people waiting for busses! We got on about the 4th bus, so arrived at the ruins while they were still relatively uncrowded - totally worth the early wakeup. The whole complex is huge - we walked around pretty much non-stop for about 5 hours. Its amazing to think that all this was built hundreds and hundreds of years ago - the stones are cut so perfectly and everything is built so well. Its a bit of a mystery really... We ate lunch up on the terraces and then took the bus back. We went straight to sleep, waking up only to get something to eat. Monique wasn't feeling to well and felt like something healthy, so we went in search of veggies. We managed to find this awesome little chinese place just accross the road, which served free chicken-noodle soup and great vegetable stir-fry! Then it was back to bed where we caught the end of a terrible Arnold Schwarzenegger sci-fi movie from the 80's - first TV we'd watched in weeks and it was the only thing in English!

Saturday morning we slept in, exhausted from the past few days. We did a bit of admin in the morning and then walked up the hill to the hot springs (Aguas Calientes is spanish for "Hot Waters") They weren't too amazing, but it was nice to realx for a bit. We wandered back into town and saw the main plaza and the market - all the souvenirs are the same wherever you go. It was nice to see the town in the daytime for a change! We then took the train back to Ollantaytambo to eventually get back to Cusco.