Peru - Machu Pichu & More

THE ADVENTURES CONTINUE...

On my second real day in Peru, we woke up early (5:00 AM) to take the train to Machu Picchu. They have invented a series of switchbacks to take us up the hill out of Cuzco. It takes about an hour to to get to the next station. The irony of this is that the station is only 17 KM away and takes about 10 minutes by taxi. I certainly hope that the train came to Cuzco before cars were readily available... I´ve been drinking a lot of coca tea since I arrived to reduce the likelihood of altitude sickness (or altitude experience as Maggy likes to call it - since she´s the only one suffering.) As a result of all this tea I was starting to wonder if I was seeing things because when we got to the first switchback I saw a man in uniform. Then at the next switchback I saw another, only he looked exactly like the last guy. By the fifth switchback I mentioned this to my aunt who was nice enough to point out that he was the switch operator and was jumping on and off the train at each switch to make sure things went smoothly. It is good to know that the hallucinations haven´t started just yet.

A few hours later we arrived in the town of Aguas Calientes (a.k.a. Machu Picchu Pueblo). What better way to enjoy the day than go to the hot springs after which the town was named, right? Well we grabbed our suits and headed up to the hot springs entrance and tried to ignore the fact that the water was brown and that Sunday is obviously the day of the weekly shower for the locals and just enjoy, the somewhat slimy and smelly lukewarm soak. Fortunately the shower lived up to the town name as it was blessedly hot.

Monday, we woke up at 4:30 (did I mention that I´m not a morning person) so that we could eat breakfast before taking the first bus to Machu Picchu at 5:30. I wish I could describe what I saw so that you all could understand the breathtaking site of it all. However, neither words nor pictures (although I took a lot) would do it justice. We wandered around, shivering, waiting for the sun to come up. Then my Aunt Cindy and I decided it was time to climb Wayna Picchu. It was a tough climb but I´m happy to say that we were only passed by one group on the way up and they were all 8th graders, so I didn´t feel too bad. We were able to get a birds eye view of the entire site. It definitely makes you wonder how Machu Picchu was ever lost, and after it was lost, how it was ever found again. But I for one, am happy it was.

I can´t tell you much about the train ride back to Cuzco since I slept most of the way. But I was awake for the fashion show. That´s right... they put on a fashion show to the song "Are you going to San Francisco?" They walked up and down the aisle of the train as if they were on a catwalk in Paris modeling sweater after sweater. If the song was a sign that I should buy a sweater, it unfortunately didn´t work.

Well, now that I´ve crossed Machu Picchu off my list, I´m most looking forward to the opportunity to sleep in. Even sleeping in ´til 6:00 AM would be an improvement over that last few day.

Stay tuned...