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Well the last few days have been great, with the highlight being the visit to Machu Picchu on Sunday! On Friday I did a tour of the Sacred Valley with a couple of others who didn´t do either of the treks. We visited a community weaving project then visited our first Inca ruin site of the day at Pisac. It was amazing how steep the terraces were that they built into the sides of the mountain. It was also very quiet and peaceful there, not many other tourists had arrived by the time we got there. After lunch we arrived in the town of Ollantaytambo to visit the second site. Unfortunately so did hundreds of others....I felt very fortunate in our little group of 3 plus our tour leader and a local guide after seeing the coach loads arrive! These ruins were again built into the mountain, and it was a steep climb up lots of steps on the terraces to reach the top, but luckily with lots of stops! I knew it was a good thing I did not go on the Inca trail! We stayed in this town overnight, and had til 3pm on Saturday there as we had to wait for the two Lares trek travellers to get train to Aguas Calientes. I didn´t do much on Saturday morning, set up a Skype account to call various family members and found out how cheap it was! :-) It was a ´Vistadome´ train which was quite expensive at $47 but rail travel between Cuzco/ Ollantaytambo and Aguas Calientes (to get to Machu Picchu) is pretty expensive, but the train was pretty good as it had larger windows and also windows in the roof so you had greaty views and could see the towering mountains. There was also a snack service on the train, where they gave out (free) sandwiches, nuts and a drink! The journey was just over an hour or so and we passed thKm 82, the start of the Inca trail- you couldn´t see the trail though, just lots of very high mountains! Aguas Calientes could be such a lovely town, surrounded by mountains as it is, but it´s really not that nice, which is a pity. Lots of building work by the looks of it, to cater for the growing numbers who visit Machu Picchu. It was dinner and an early night in preparation for the early get up to go up the (big) hill to the entrance to the Machu Picchu site. We got up at 4.45 and got to the bus stop for 5.30, where there was already a massive queue to get the bus, the first bus being at 5.30. Fortunately there are plenty of buses and it´s all really well organised, so we only had to wait about 20 minutes for a bus. It travels up a windy road to the entrance to the site. Once through the entrance (another big queue) it was a steep stepped climb to get to the Caretakers hut, which is a good place for the picture postcard views and wow, what an amazing sight! With the back drop of the mountain Wayna Picchu (?) the ruins are stunning! It was quite cloudy to start, Machu Picchu is after all in a cloud forest, but when it cleared the views were great and took lots of photos, trying to get some good ones without too many people in! Actually despite the numbers in the bus queue and obviously those arriving from the Inca trail it didn't seem too crowded, at least to start with, although there were times on our guided tour that too many groups were in one certain area at a time. We had a guide with the tour guide who'd done the Lares trek (which two of our group did), which was very interesting. It's amazing to think how the Incas built Machu Picchu, as it really is in the middle of the mountains. After our tour, which finished around 10, we went back to the cafe at the main entrance and had a drink and food (no food allowed at the site, though lots of people had it and I saw guides eating too! Bit rubbish that the rules aren't kept to, but I guess so long as people don't leave rubbish it's ok). Some people went off to climb the Machu Picchu mountain and/or walk to the sungate, which is where you arrive from the Inca trail, but I decided to take it easy and just enjoy being at the ruins, so I found a quiet spot on one of the many terraces and sat there for a while. It was good just to sit and take in the surroundings. At about midday I spotted some of our group who'd done the Inca trail, who were headed to Agaus Calientes to get some food, so I joined them and heard all about the Inca trail. It sounded great but also pretty tiring as expected! After lunch we went to a few shops then went to meet the rest of the group for the train back. It was not a vistadome train this time, but still had the good views. The carriage was full of chatter, people knackered from the Inca trail, but excited to have done it and also to have seen the Machu Picchu (like me!). We got off the train at Ollyantambo to get the bus to Cuzco, as the train all the way is apparently pretty slow. By the time we got our bags from storage, etc it was 8pm, and most people were too exhausted to go out. Myself and one of the other girls went to an Irish bar for some food, and I enjoyed a cider or two....we had thought about going to the salsa lessons which take place in one of the bars but we were too late for that, but went for a good dance anyway! It was a good night and was good to take the opportunity to go out since the next day (Monday) was a free day in Cuzco = no early morning get up! Yay!
On the Monday Anne-Marie (my room mate) and I went and had lunch at Jack's cafe (the place I'd been last week) then we went to the handicraft market, where I did some of my shopping and was a little more succesful than last time! In the evening we all went to see a show at the theatre, which was really good, various acts, dancing, men on stilts, a juggler, etc. Then it was dinner and an early night for me!
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