Today it begins - the long bus-collectivo- walk to the base of MachuPichu: Aguascaliente. At about 5am I was up, excited and raring to go. Our bus wasn't till 7:30am but I wanted to be early and organized specially since now it's not just myself to think of but Cris aswell. We said goodbye to Sasha a friend we had met at the Oasis and had caught up again with in Cusco. We paid Ronnie our Couchsurfing host for the room, left him with our things and agreed we would move to his house on Friday when we arrived back. We were running a little late so we had to give it legs to the bus station where we found the bus waiting but in no such hurry. The bus didn't leave till half an hour after it should have so there was certainly no need to run. The bus journey was one of the most incredible, terrifying, scenic and exhilarating bus rides that either Cris or myself had been on. After winding our way through the mountains to Ollyamtumbo we had a very long stop where old women and young kids piled into the bus trying to sell everything from nuts to pig skin - quite an incredible site. The next part of the journey involved rising slowly up to about 3000m along some of the thinnest razor edge cliffs, as we descended the brakes started to squeal and falter and everybody grasped for air. The scenery was incredible - one side huge snow-capped mountains that rose above the clouds and on our side a thick dense green jungle, an amazing contrast. We passed many cyclist who had done the inca jungle trail which involved down-hill cycling the first day, we couldn't help be a little scared as the driver caressed the cliffs and the brakes and suspension squealed and jutted. The bus journey that was to take 4.5 hours in the end took 7.5 but neither Cris or I could complain at the incredible scenery we got to witness even of it meant at the obvious risk of our life's. When we arrived at Santa Maria we were ushered into a small station wagon that drove us an hour and a half to hydra-electrica. This road was even more treacherous, gravel only and cut out along the cliff in what appeared to be a single lane. The driver drove the track like he was the man Colin McRae himself taking the corners at breakneck speed and sliding just passed oncoming cars. I kind of thought we would be unique taking this route to MachuPichu but after passing many collectivos it was obvious a whole lot of people had the same idea as us. Reaching Hydra-electrica we were met by the magnificent MachuPichu mountain and what a monolith it is. We filled out the visitor form and then made the very long trek along the railway line into Aguascaliente or MachuPichu town. The track was littered with people, mostly South Americans and the odd European. Cris and I gave it legs and managed to make it to town just before dark and after nearly 3 hours of brisk walking. The small city nestled at the base of MachuPichu was quite a site to see - huge hotels, bars, resteraunts and a densely populated local community spreading out to the outskirts. We purchased our ticket to the city ruins and the mountain but unfortunately the peak summit was sold out for the next month and at $56 this has to be one of the most expensive tourist sites I have ever visited. Next thing we had to find a hostel so we walked up and down the streets and as far out of the CBD as we could. We eventually found a nice hostal that gave us our own room, basic breakfast, warm shower and use of the kitchen for about $6. We brought some things from the little markets at double the price of what we had been paying in Cusco and then headed back to cook dinner. The Hostal is very quiet and exactly what we both wanted, we had visited two hostels that were both full and agreed some piece and quiet was much preferred. We actually decided that we may aswell stay here two nights and that way can leave a few things here tomorrow instead of having to drag them up the hill. After a huge day and a very early start we were both exhausted and called it a night as tomorrow would be an even earlier start with walking starting at 4:30am.