MACHU PICCHU

25TH - 26TH MARCH

Well we were up at about 5.30 the morning of our train, and were thinking that this place had better be seriously impressive as it had cost us a bloody fortune already!! We got a taxi down to the station, which was already quite hectic with lots of people milling around and trying to sell you anything from a bright yellow rainproof poncho to a plastic model of Machu Picchu! After a low quality coffee from the station café we were called to the platform to board our train. At first glance the train seemed ok until two people came and sat opposite us and we realised just how little legroom we were going to have for our four hour journey. Thankfully the two people were Japanese and seemed to prefer sitting on the seats with their legs crossed for at least some of the time.

The scenery on the way up was pretty good to be fair, the journey started with four switchbacks
up the side of a mountain with some good views back over Cuzco, and then meandered through lush mountain scenery until it arrived at Ollantaytambo in the sacred valley a couple of hours later. The final couple of hours up to Aguas Calientes was the most scenic though, climbing up next to a raging river with the valley sides getting steeper and steeper, and the rainforest becoming more and more lush.

We were met by a rep from Gringo Bill’s, our chosen hostel, at the station, and led through the hectic craft market into the town. The hostel looked really nice, and we were very pleasantly surprised when they gave us a junior suite instead of the standard room we’d paid for. It basically just meant that the room was bigger and we had our own balcony which overlooked the plaza and the mountains beyond. It was a very nice room, (although the water was off for most of the afternoon!) but then it