Magical Machu Picchu

We take The PeruRail Vistadome train to Machu Picchu. The journey is all uphill and lasts about 1.5 hours. As we have already acclimatised to the thinner air when in Chile, we are comfortable with the higher altitude. At the town of Aguas Calientes we queue up to take the bus to the sacred site. As you can guess, it's quite busy, but not as bad as we thought. Jamie, our guide we have (over 20 years experience), takes up around Machu Picchu avoiding the 'hot' spots and we spend about 2 hours here, with Jamie explaining the history of the site. It's a wonderful experience and quite spectacular with the views over the valleys below. As usual with the Incas, there is always the unanswered questions of the purpose of Machu Picchu and how they managed to construct the site with the huge stones, the precise cutting of them, given the location. We then take the bus back down to the town, but only after queuing an hour - we could have walked down instead, but declined the offer (would have taken 2 hours in the heat of the day!). We check into our hotel, Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo, that is nestled in a hill overlooking the town and railway station, hidden in a rather dense wood. Our room has an open fire, that got lit in the evening and it is a lovely reminder of home.

The next morning we catch the first bus out of Aguas Calientas to be at Machu Picchu for opening time of 6am. There are considerably less people about and we revisit the site in peace and quiet. We hang around a vantage point to take some pictures as the sun rises and the scene is even more marvellous as the orange glow moves across the stoney structures below us. The journey back down to the town is a complete contrast to yesterday, as we were first in the queue and the only ones on the bus this time.

At the hotel, there are walks in the gardens and woods and we knew that the hotel had a bear in an enclosure. So we thought we would seek the animal out - a Bear in the Woods Hunt! And we did come across the bear. It was lazing in the sun in a good sized pen, but was totally unimpressed with our calls to get up! Our train back to Ollantaytambo was more eventful than the one up to Aguas Calientes; we were about 45 minutes into our journey when the train came to a halt and into our carriage came what we only describe as a witch doctor type of character, doing some dancing to music. Whilst he was prancing up and down, one of the lady staff members then came in, dressed very tastefully and walking up and down the aisle catwalk style. The penny then dropped that we were having a fashion show. Both the lady and then a male staff member took turns to show off various tops made of alpaca wool, with an opportunity to buy them later - which Keith did, purchasing a jumper (which he had to try on in the carriage, much to the amusement of the other passengers!).

We get met at the train station and drive to Cusco, that was the capital of the Inca Empire between the 13th and 16th Centuries, when the Spanish arrived in 1532. Our hotel, Casa Cartagena, is right in the centre of this lovely city. On offer, when we arrive, is two Pisco Sours - that taste really nice and we are immeadiately chilled ready for our excursions tomorrow.