January 4, Macchu Pichu!

Yet another early rise, at 520 to catch the train to Macchu Pichu. Unfortunately it was rainy and cold outside and neither of us had our jeans! We had only packed one pair each and they were very disgusting from the jungle, so we had left them at the laundry at the hotel. We asked the guy about them before we left but he said they wouldn't be ready till after 8. Also - no hot water in the shower. Yuck. The morning did not start off well, in other words. We found the station without too much difficulty. We got on line for the ticket window - we had bought our tickets online the night before but only were able to print vouchers for the tickets and had to take the vouchers to the ticket window. It seemed we were the only people who didn't have our tickets, all the other people on the line were locals and probably getting tickets somewhere else. Some guy in a security uniform asked us what we were doing, and pulled us out of line and brought us to the front to get our tickets. Sometimes it pays to be a gringo, I don't think we had a chance of making it through that line in the 40 minutes before the train came.





We sat in separate seats on opposite sides of the train. I sat by a mom, dad, and ~7 year old who were all excited and having fun. That was cute.



I dozed on and off on the train ride. It wasn't too bad.



We got up to a town called Aguas Calientes and found the place where we buy MP tickets.





They only take soles. Then went to find the place where they sell the tickets for the bus that takes you from AC to MP. And of course they only take dollars. Then a third line to wait to get on the bus.



I was really starting to wonder if it would be worth it.





Once we got up there, though, I realized it was SO worth it! MP was amazing. I can see why the Incas wanted to live there. It really feels like you are on top of the world. The mountains are beautiful. And the site itself is unbelieveable. It is so big. It could really hold a whole town. There are llamas that live there and just wander around, they let you pet them but they kind of ignore you. And I was surprised at the variety of flowers up there! I'll just put the grab bag of photos below.

































































We spent 4 hours walking around and felt like we weren't done but we had to leave to get on the train!



The bus ride back was steep but kind of fun. In AC the train was a little late, so we got some water and some snacks.



Then we left on the train, happily we got to sit next to each other on the ride back to Cuzco. We were exhausted. The train seemed to take forever.





When we finally got back, we went to Trotamundos (yet another LP recommendation) and had a little snack of sandwiches and fresh juice. Yum!





Then to bed and passed out! (I can't remember what but I think we watched the end of a movie on Fox Life.)


Costs:
2 RT train ticket to Aguas Calientes: $96 each
breakfast sandwiches and coffees S/23
2 tickets to Macchu Pichu S/248
2 bus tickets to MP $28
post-MP snacks: water, ice cream, chips S/13
dinner S/43