Day 4: June 20

We woke up at 4:30am for our recommend 5am taxi in order to get to the city of Ollyantambo (in the Sacred Valley of Peru) for our train to Aguas Calientes (en route to Machu Picchu). Normally you can take the train from Cuzco-where we were, but they were all booked up. Our taxi ended up being 30 minutes late, and we were freaked about missing our train which was very expensive. Our train was at 7:05 and it took 2 hours to get there!


On our rushed route, COW WERE CROSSING! AHHH! It was funny but so frustrating. I love the taxi's music with them crossing, it makes me laugh every time. The cow lifts his leg right has the beat starts!
View from the train, it was beautiful! We made it at 7:00, train was at 7:05--close one!













food served on train: chicken sandwich, cheese sandwich, cocoa tea, and pastry that was gross.

We arrive at our hostal/hotel Gringo Bills and were pleasantly surprised. You have to stop in Aquas Calientes in order to make it to Machu Picchu because only bus will take you up there unless you do the 4 day Incan Trail that starts in Cuzco.
Here is a video of the little city and our place:


We immediately went to Machu Picchu, it was only about 9:30am. You take a 25 min. bus ride up to the top and there you are! The weather was beautiful, it was so lush and green. I think we covered the whole place, it was big, but you can see it all in 1 day. It cost about $80 for 2 people, so it's pricey to go more than once. We had a little picnic near some rocks, got some sunburn on my hands. We stayed for about 5 hours, and went home--exhausted. Basically our whole trip to Peru was hiking for hours on end...great exercise=great sleep!
Here are pictures from Machu Picchu. (Machu Picchu was just found about 100 years ago. It was a city that was for royalty on vacation. Lots of farming happened up there, a prison, and it was the only place not found by the Spanish and ruined. Only a couple of thousand lived there, and small pox is what killed everyone off. That's what makes it amazing, plus it lies at the top of the Andes Mountains of Aguas Calientes--One of the new 7 wonders of the world).

The llamas at the grass instead of needing lawn mowers...they seemed to be moved throughout the ruins for that reason.
All the rooms of the ruins....
A little bird visitor while we ate lunchI got a kick out of finding this wheelbarrow. The whole point was that these rocks were lifted and constructed with no machinery. Then I find this between rocks!!