Another early morning!  (this is vacation?? LOL).   We  had to be ready to go at 6am to catch a 640 am train to Aguas Calientes, the town that serves Machu Pichu.   We were allowed to only take backpacks for the overnight trip, so did a bit of repacking with only the necessities, grabbed a quick breakfast and was ready for the transport to the train station.   We were on Peru Rail for the 3.5 hour trip to AC, with comfy seats and domed ceilings so we can have great views of the trip.  Machu Pichu is actually lower in elevation at 9,000 feet than Cusco...still high!   We sat with four 50 somethings (one may have been a 60 something) who were getting off the train about 3 miles from AC and hiking for 7.5 hours into MP. Since they were staying at our hotel, we were interested in how that was going to go!

We arrived in AC about 10am and a rep met us, told us to leave our backpacks for the hotel to take and we were immediately catching the bus to MP. I warned Katelyn, who is not fond of heights to take an aisle seat....but she didn't listen and then wished she had. The 20 minute trip is all switchbacks on a small road with crazy drops off the side and of course passing other busses along the way. YIKES.

We were met by Ciro, our guide and was joined by Hans the german guy on our Cusco tour. Of course the first time you see the iconic view of Machu Pichu it is breathtaking. Ciro took as around the ruins for about 2 hours, giving us good info on the Inca's way of life. Not only did they have to be smart (incredible architecture), but amazingly healthy to navigate the altitude, hills and way of life. They were also very spiritual, with many symbols that honored the sun, stars and mother earth.

At the end of the tour, we grabbed a quick snack and headed to walk up a trail to the Sun Gate, which is the entrance to MP from the Inca Trail. Somehow we took a wrong turn and ended up on the trail to the Inca Bridge. After about 10 minutes, Ashley stopped to birdwatch , so Katelyn and I continued on. There were parts of the trail that had sheer dropoffs to one side and a small path with ropes to hang on to. Katelyn hung in there (that height thing again) and after about 40 minutes we found the old Inca Bridge. It was blocked off as it was just some boards across a massive drop into oblivion, on the otherside was the old Inca Trail. On the way back we saw some not very bright people hiking in Uggs...then, they looked brilliant when we saw three others hiking in barefeet!

We found Ashley, still birdwatching and went to find the Sun Gate. This trail was much more challenging with lots of rock stairs going up, up, up. Again, we lost Ashley to the potential of birds...but we did pick up a local security guy who gave us a mini-tour on the way up. Almost to the top we passed a group who had was just coming in from a 4 day hike on the Inca Trail. They were excited to be within 40 minutes to the end of their hike and the potenial of a hot shower! At the top, we had more amazing views of MP and could also see that crazy zig-zag road to the bottom. It was so worth the hike!

We headed back to the buses for the scary ride down about 4pm. This time both girls grabbed aisle seats! After a bit of wandering in Aguas we found the Inkaterra, our hotel. It is FABULOUS. We had been upgraded to a junior suite and it was set amongst beatufiul grounds. Ashley immediately signed up fror the free birdwatching tour at 630am (Katelyn and I declined). After enjoying our welcome drink (pisco sour) in the bar we had a great dinner in te beautiful dining room (included in the room). Guinea Pig (national dish of Peru) was on the menu, but no one had the nerve to try it! Saw the foursome that hiked the trail and they made it, but didn't want to see another trail for a few days!

In bed by 845p and ready for what tomorrow brings!