This morning we started early-ish. I put my big bag out to be collected by the bell boys.... This bag was not going with me on my next journey. No, the next time we will be reunited will be in cusco. We had to pack only an overnight bag for our trip to Machu Picchu. The big bags wouldn't have fit on the train.... And it's true they wouldn't have.
So I have my overnight bag, which will not be going with me on my day trip today either. I couldn't imagine trying to carry my overnight bag around Machu Picchu - that would be crazy in a coconut. Instead, once we get off the train, the hotel porters will take it straight from the station to the hotel. Great, now I need to know how the hell am I going to carry my stuff around that I just need for today. The normal things like rain jacket, sunscreen, and insect repellent. I put them in a plastic bag, however I didn't really want to carry it around all day today, plus that just looks lame!!! Then as if the shopping gods heard me, as I was walking to breakfast from my hotel room I saw a Peruvian lady selling woven backpacks in the hotel lobby. I will have to think about it, however the fact was, I had already decided that I was going to buy a backpack. I was just going to eat breakfast first. So I went back and was about to purchase the one I had in my hands, when the lady said to wait as she had one that she thought would suit me better. She pulled out a nice blue one. Sold. The price was $10. Bargain!! I got my backpack. I madly packed all of my stuff into the pack, put it on my back and it felt great. Perfect!!
It was decision time, which bus to get on. Do we stick with llama or do we bail and head to alpaca?!?! In fact the decision was quite easy.... Which bus was Kerry going to be on?? We asked her, but she wasn't sure, so we decided that we would just get back on to llama, hoping that Kerry would be back on this bus!! We were sitting on the bus, and I was just looking out the door.... Hoping that Kerry was coming, and then bingo, she jumped on our bus!!! Brilliant!!!
So we set off. We drove for a while, until we came to a town called Ollantaytambo. Here we went on a walking tour of the town. We walked through some local peruvians houses and saw what life was like for them living in this town. I was so pleasantly surprised when I saw the guinea pigs running around the floor in the house eating grass!!! There was at least 20 of them. They looked so happy and content eating their grass, keeping warm by the fire. Little did they know that they would end up on that so called fire once they had eaten enough grass!!! I love these parts of the tours, as it does give you a real perspective of life and culture.
After the city tour, we then made our way to some Incan ruins located in this town. Kerry gave us a quick explanation of how these ruins come to be. Then the question was circulated, who wants to climb it?? It was quite high, and I'm always up for a challenge... so I was in. A handful of other people said yes, however most decided to hold off and conserve their energy for Machu Picchu. Fair call, Machu Picchu is one of the main reasons why a majority of people came on this trip, so conserving energy to make sure you can see all that you want to see there is smart.
But I was feeling good, so I started to climb with the group. We climbed the first flight of stairs, and made it to the first terrace (landing). This is where the rest of the group stopped. It was a lot harder to climb, purely due to the altitude. I started climbing the next section which was really steep and long. I made it up half way, but decided to stop to catch my breath and try and reduce my heart rate just a little.... It felt like my heart was about to jump out of my chest. After a minute I was good to go again, so I climbed the rest of the way up. I was glad that I did as well!! The views were spectacular!!!
I then made my way down and joined the rest of the group. We chatted for a while, all excited about heading to Machu Picchu this afternoon. Llama then took us to the train station. The roads in this town are so narrow, and often only one car can drive down the road at one time. We did get to the station on time, and we pretty much boarded the Peru rail dome train for our ride to machu picchu.
I found my seat, it was a window seat on the left hand side of the train, right at the back of the last carriage. As I sat down I was excited about my seat... It looked great. Then Fernando our tour guide jumped on and told me that I had the best seat on the entire train. Wow, that's amazing!! I'm stoked.
The train left the station and started the slow ride to Machu Picchu. I soon realised why this was the best seat of the train. The river was running right outside my window the entire trip. The mountains towered above us, and we could see people walking the inca trail. They all looked so happy when they start, waving at us on the train. However the further we went, the hikers were no longer waving at us.... They were probably wondering how the hell could they jump on to the train and get a lift there. It was also interesting seeing the Peruvian porters carrying the hikers backpacks along the trail... Whilst the hikers looked like they were barely moving up the mountain, the porters were pretty much running up there.
The train chugged along the line, and on a couple of occasions momentarily stopped to allow another train to pass. Occasionally our train would sweep around a long left bend and this provided me with a perfect view and photo opportunity of the entire train.
We were also served a yummy snack. The drink on the other hand was a different story. They asked me what I wanted to drink, I asked for a coca tea, I'm sorry miss we don't have any left. Okay, can I please have an orange juice. I'm sorry miss we are all out of juice. How about coke. No sorry miss. Ok, how bout you tell me what you have..... Um coffee. Ok, this could have gone on a long time. Luis one of our cusco guides was sitting with us, and he absolutely cracked it. He was speaking in Spanish, but he was going off. He then demanded to speak to the manager, which he did down the end of the train carriage. Two minutes later 5 glasses of juice came our way. That's one way of doing it!!
We arrived at the station.... Now we were close. We walked through the market place, with the threat of not stopping to look at or buy anything or else. Fernando was at the end of the group, keeping a keen eye on everyone so that we didn't lose anyone, and that no one was stopping to buy things!!
We then waited about 5 mins at the bus station. There were small shuttle buses that continually picked people up, drove them up to Machu Picchu, collected returning passengers and drove them back down the mountain. This was a process that ran continuously all day long.
The buses were pretty heavy duty. I'm guessing that they must cop a bit of a beating running up and down that hill all day long. The road was a very narrow, stone rough road. It was made up of about 13 switch backs, with the corners being paved with cobble stones just to assist the bus with being able to turn round the very tight corners. The drivers were amazing. They knew the exact dimensions of the buses, and manage to pass each up and down the mountain easily, even with very little room for error. There were some trouble times, especially when two buses arrive at a corner at the same time. It is impossible for the buses to go round the corners at the same time so one usually waits. Occasionally, because some of the corners are blind, you don't realise that there is another bus there until you literally nearly run into it. When this occurs, one of the buses would then need to reverse back and allow the other bus through. That happened a couple of times.
As we ascended the hill, it was starting to become a lot easier to imagine just how amazing the views are going to be from machu picchu. What I saw in the bus going up was stunning.
We then arrived. We piled out of the bus and were given our tickets. We were standing around waiting for some people to return from the toilet, when out of nowhere I see someone walking towards me, and saying my name. Oh my god, it was a friend of mine from work Reesa. I knew that Reesa was going to be in South America at the same time as me, however never dreamt that we would actually catch up with each other. We did!!! And what an amazing place to see each other.... Machu Picchu!! Unbelievable. We hugged it out and chatted for a few minutes before it was time to enter the park. Ticket and passport in hand, I present them both to the ticket lady. Entry granted!!! A few of us stopped and stamped our passports with the machu Picchu stamp, which was cool. We then walked a few minutes, through a little hut, round the bend and then the magic of Machu Picchu hit us!! We were here. We walked all of 5 steps and we all stopped for photos. Finally I was here!!! The size of the ruins are just remarkable, but it is made even more dramatic by the endless mountains of the Andes providing a perfect backdrop. It is just mind blowing to think that these ruins have been here for thousands of years..... How the hell did they get all of the stones up here to make such a brilliant civilisation??? Even more impressive, was on the new Machu Picchu mountain, when you look right up the top of the mountain, there were more ruins up there. Crazy!!!
We started our tour of the site. Kerry lead us around, taking us from temple to temple, explaining what the rooms or terraces were used for. Each time we climbed some stairs, turned a corner, ducked through a door way, or looked out a window there was an even more awesome view waiting for us. I took so many photos this afternoon. We also saw the famous llamas doing what they do best, eating the grass!! They actually do a great job at keeping the grass levels down.
We were also so blessed that the weather really fined up, and were left at the ruins with a sunny and warm afternoon to enjoy the sites. Considering we were told that it may actually rain, I think we were very very lucky to have such an amazing day!!!
We were also lucky, as we arrived at Machu Picchu in the afternoon. By the time we arrived, a lot of people were leaving, obviously they had spent the morning there. I so thought that it would have been so busy, swarming with tourists everywhere, and unable to get a photo of the ruins without a 1000 other people being in them. But as the afternoon went on, the number of people at the ruins slowly declined, and all of a sudden getting photos without people in then was the norm. Again, we were so lucky that we came in the afternoon!!!
After a couple of hours taking in the amazing views, we were then lead out of the park and jumped on to the shuttle bus. Down the hill we went.
The driver let us out of the bus directly in front of our hotel.
We checked in and went to our rooms. It was such a gorgeous hotel. The room was stunning!!! By the time I checked in and got to my room I was busting for the lou, so I headed straight into the toilet. Just as I did, the power went off. Oh god. What am I going to do now??? I was in complete darkness. I didn't even take any notice of the room set up, so I didn't really know where the door was. So I started feeling my way around the bathroom, and eventually I found my way out. I went outside, and saw jenny my next door neighbour just about to descend the stairs. I asked her if she had any power? Jenny explained that she did have power up until she plugged her mobile phone into the wall and it exploded back out at her. Ok, I think we found our source. Jenny did a great job, she took the entire 5th floor power out!! The hotel staff came and fixed the problem within 5 mins, so it was back to exploring our rooms!!!
It didn't take long to realise that there was a train line about 10m from my window. Especially when a huge heavy duty train roared past my window, rattling everything inside. Hmmmm, I wonder how frequently this is going to happen. Let me just say frequently. In the hour and a half before dinner I counted 4 trains barreling through!!
This evening we all met at the hotel restaurant for our classes. Tonight we learnt how to make a pisco sour cocktail and ceviche. Both were very very yummy!!!
This was then followed by a jaw droppingly, delicious 3 course meal. The food was presented flawlessly, and was yummy to boot!!
I then turned in for the night..... Another big day ahead tomorrow!!!