Hi everyone! We?re in Aguas Calientes - arrived yesterday afternoon on the train. The train required us to get up pretty early, but it went through some amazing scenery. We had to go back and forth a few times before leaving Cusco, as the train has to keep switching tracks to get out of the town. Went through some gorgeous valleys - huge snow-capped mountains in the distance, kids playing with farm animals, rivers - overall it was a really nice ride. Aguas Calientes is very small - there?s a river down the middle, which seems to divide the tourist areas and the local areas, but only a few streets on either side. Absolutely packed with tourists in full-out adventure gear (Tilly hats, cargo pants, sparkling new hiking boots), and the restaurants are definitely geared toward Western tastes - lots of pizza, pasta, even something called a ?sexy burger?, although we have yet to figure out what that one is. The setting is incredible here. There are massive mountains towering over the town, and cloud forest right up to the buildings. I got to spend most of the day curled up on the bed while Erika went off in search of some sort of medicine for me - I must?ve eaten something that didn?t agree with me! Seem to be much better now after taking some mild antibiotics from the pharmacy. Later we went to the hot springs here. They?re only a few minutes from our hostel and, while the pools themselves are fairly basic, the setting is amazing. They?re stuck in the valley above the river, with the jungle coming right down.

This morning, we got up at quarter to 5 to catch the first bus to Machu Picchu. There were hordes of other people waiting there, and apparantly it gets even worse around noon, after the trains get in. The bus winds up the side of the mountain with some crazy switchbacks, and deposits us in front of some rather ridiculous Inka Ruins Hotel, built out of faux Inka stones, where you can stay right near Machu Picchu for some obscene amount of money. We got in at 6 am, and explored for the next hour and a half. It is really incredible being somewhere that you?ve seen so many photos of. The ruins are pretty cool - the walls are in good shape, some of the buildings still have roofs on, and every now and then there are small grooves along the paths that still carry water. I think what?s even more striking than the ruins, though, is the setting. This place is literally perched on top of a mountain. The mountain goes straight down on two sides of the city, with terraces on incredibly steep slopes. The scenery is almost indescribable - I don?t think any photo can truly capture the scale of the mountains here. I can only imagine what it would have been like to live there, waking up surrounded by scenery that literally takes your breath away.

At 7:30, we joined to queue to climb up Huayna Picchu - the big mountain that towers over Machu Picchu. They only let in 400 people a day and, even though it had only been open for half an hour, we were numbers 108/109, so glad that we got over there early (Erika?s idea - I was wandering aimlessly through some ruins.) The Inkas built a trail up the side of the mountain, and then put terraces and temples on the top. The trail goes almost straight up the side of the peak - lots of incredibly steep steps to climb up, and a good hour of climbing. There were definitely a few sections where I was a little nervous, due to the huge drops right off the path. Getting to the very top required us to crawl through a cave and then scale a ladder, where we came out onto massive boulders perched on top of the mountain. There was a panoramic view of the mountains all around, and of Machu Picchu, which was more than worth all of the huffing and puffing it took to get there!

These computers are a little slow, so we won?t be posting pictures until Monday, probably (we get back to Cusco pretty late on Sunday). We walked down from Machu Picchu into town - about an hour through the jungle. The path crosses the road a few times, and we saw a young boy in traditional Inka dress racing from one switchback to the next yelling goodbye. I think we?re off for some dinner in a bit - the whole town has gone a bit nuts as Machu Picchu was named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. The main square had a marching band today, and every restaurant and hostel has its TV or radio tuned to news about Machu Picchu. So I?m sure the search for somewhere quiet will be fruitless, but we?ll see what we can find.

Hope everyone is doing well - love getting all of your messages! We?ll update in a couple of days,

Hil

Hey guys.  Yeah Machu Picchu was pretty sweet and I was overly impressed with myself for scaling that huge ass mountain at 7 in the morning.  It was soooo funny climbing down behind Hil cause the toursits we passed kept on commenting on how terrified she look.  It was pretty steep and narrow and sketchy at points.   

 Anyway I just wanted to flash back to our last night in Cusco.  We went to a bar/restaurant called Fallen Angel.  If anyone out there is ever in Cusco you have to check this place out.  It is like something out of a Hunter S. THompson book.  I couldn´t even look at our table top it was so trippy.  A bunch of the other tables were bathtubs covered in glass and filled with goldfish.  There are two bathrooms there- devils or angels.  I went into the devil one :-) and it was crazy.  Black painted walls covered with barbed wire decorated with roses and lit with a red light.  THe angel one was completely done in shattered glass and lit with a blue/black light.  We got there pretty early and ended up sitting next to the only other customer- an american named Brendon.  He is from San Fransico and was pretty cool.  We ended up hanging out with him and doing a little bar hoping later that night.  At one point to bug us he claimed to be Canadian to someone to asked and we told him he can be an honoury canadian once he has a Caesar...I am dying for one but the are completely unheard of here and Mojitos are not a bad fall back.  Anyway had a good time in out on the town...went home earlyish-midnight as hil wasn´t feeling great...a sign of things to come I guess.....