Machu Picchu
After the Lares trek, we travelled to Aguas Calientes on the 'Andean Explorer', very much a tourist train, with a piped cd playing really awful pan-pipe cover versions of 'Guantanamera', the theme tune from 'Titanic' and 'El condor Pasa' over and over again until everyone was groaning! On the other hand, the scenery was stunning, and the train had a glass roof so we could see the snowy peaks above us and the rivers and valleys below. They also came round with complementary soft drinks, and little snacks - crisps that are made out of sliced banana are amazing!
It was a bit of a culture shock when we arrived in Aguas Calientes (named after its thermal pools) - it was so crowded, and as the nearest town to Machu Picchu and the end of the Inca trail, it was just one great big horrible clutter of tourist shops and people shouting 'massage madame', every two minutes. We battled our way up through the town to our hotel, where we were reunited with the four that had come from Cusco, and relished the thought of a nice hot shower, a good meal and sleeping in a real bed!!

Monday 28th May was a very significant day. Not only did I finally get to Machu Picchu, but Mum finally came home after 4 months in hospital! Hurray!
We were supposed to be leaving at 5.45, to get an early bus up to the Machu Picchu site, but as one of our group overslept, we were nearly half an hour late, and not very happy. As we wound our way up the corkscrew bends, we passed bus after bus coming down, having already offloaded their passengers at the top. Although the number of people who walk the Inca trail each day is restricted, there is no limit to how many people can visit the ruins, which is a bit of a shame. Tony was already in a bad mood about having been kept waiting, but there was worse to come. When we got to the entrance, there was a luxury hotel there, which we had known about, but it was still a shock to see it. Alex our guide gave us our tickets, and as we went through the turnstile, they told Tony that his daysack was too big and he'd have to leave it in the left luggage office. They said its printed on the ticket that you can only bring in a really small bag, but as we'd only just got our tickets, we didn't know. Tony was fuming, because he said somebody could have mentioned it when we were standing outside the hotel for nearly half an hour with our daysacks on! Even worse, it cost him 3 soles to leave his bag there. The air was blue.

Despite the throngs of people, and Tony's mood, Machu Picchu was still an amazing place. It looks exactly like it does in pictures of the site, but nothing can prepare you for the enormous scale of the place, or the incredible setting. Although we had arrived late, we were in time to see the sun come up over the surrounding mountains, turning the snow different shades of pink and then gold. Magical. Alex gave us a tour of some of the principal buildings, and then we were free to spend a few hours wandering round the rest of the site on our own. We were anxious to meet up with the four that were walking the Inca trail, but the site is so huge and there were so many people, that we didn't know if we'd be able to. We decided to walk up to the Sun Gate, which takes about an hour, so I thought I'd better go to the toilet first, back at the main entrance. As I went through the turnstile, there they were! They looked elated, but also exhausted, as they'd had 3 nights camping, and had had to get up at 3.15 to complete the last part of the walk. Although the trail ends at the Sun Gate, they had to come all the way down to the main entrance to get their ticket validated!
It was great to see them.
The Sun Gate itself was a bit of a disappointment after the long climb, as it was just some large stone pillars, but the view was amazing, so we were glad we'd made the effort. We made our way back down and caught the bus back to Aguas Calientes, to pick up our luggage from the hotel, then the train back to Ollantaytambo, where the Pentecost Sunday celebrations were still going on - in fact it looked exactly the same as the previous day, but with more food stalls. Apparently it goes on for a week! From there we returned to our hotel in Cusco by minibus, and we felt a bit strange to be back, after all we had seen and done over the last few days. We had just got into our room, when we had a phone call from Audrey, who had left the tour in La Paz, to say she was now also in Cusco, and had just seen us crossing the road! We arranged to meet up the next morning for a trip to the handicraft market, which would leave Tony free to have a day of peace and quiet to do some Maths. Perfect.