An afternoon in the clouds

machu picchu
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The train came on time and we indeed get the last two seats on the train as we were in the back by the bathrooms and the staff.  We were on a "Vistadome" train so there were windows along the side ceilings of the car and we got some magnificent views of the mountains for the first while until they fogged up.  The train had only two cars and we had some breakfast served to us.  The journey was only  around 1.5 hours.

I started to feel a little sick on the train.   Some from the altitude, some maybe from that lunch I had yesterday at the street stall.  We arrived at Agus Calientes and tried to find the hotel we had seen in the guidebook.  After walking up and down the hill (and resting  from shortness of breath!) we found it, but it didn't look so nice.  So we went into another place and got the room.  It wasn't that great either, but our train back was at 5.45 the next morning and we would be out most of the day so it was okay.

It makes you feel like royalty being there. We couldn't figure out though how or why anyone would want to build a city in such a remote place.

train to machu picchu
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We walked down toward where the buses to the top were and stumbled across the place to buy the tickets to Machu Picchu.  They we got our bus tickets and started the journey up the switchback mountain.  A gorgeous ride up along with some thrilling moments when the buses coming down met with the buses going up.  The road was single laned, so one of the buses would have to back up to the nearest dugout so we could pass.

We made it to the top and it was hot!  But Machu Picchu was so quiet and tranquil - it was just amazing.  We took a short hike up towards the lookout point.  Rested about 6 times on the 6 minute hike.  I was really starting not to feel well.  So we sat on the steppe and took some photos of Machu Picchu as  a whole.  Totally wonderful.  Then I scoped out some places with shade so I could lay down.  We found a good looking place and then hiked down there.  In the first few places the grass was all wet but eventually I found a suitable place and laid down for about half an hour.  Ning walked around a bit then told me to get moving.

Vistadome train
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We walked around a bit taking a million photos.  The best part though was just being in the mountains and the views all around.  It makes you feel like royalty being there.  We couldn't figure out though how or why anyone would want to build a city in such a remote place.  Supposedly all the stone came from somewhere else too.  It was a hurculean effort to build this place.

We were both hot now, I was sunburned and it was Ning's turn for a headache.  So we went back to the entrance and bought a severely overpriced coke.  Then we both took a nap on the picnic table.

the bus up the 'hill'
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By the time we woke up, the large part of the people inside had already started to go back to town to catch the afternoon trains.  so we went back inside for another go around.  We felt better by this time and gave it a good go. We never hiked up the mountain in the background (2-3 hours) but it didn't matter.

We took the bus back down and had some dinner at a restaurant along the rushing river.  A train came through and I think the people in front of the restaurant could have reached out and touched it if they wanted.  Then it was back home for another early sleep.  I think we made it to about 7pm this night!

Machu Picchu
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we woke up at 4.45 for the train to ollantaytambo and walked to the station in the light of the stars.