Cusco, Machu Picchu, The Sacred Valley

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Here are a few photos, this is taking way tool long to upload so this is all you get for now. You will have to wait till we get home to see the rest.

Well it's been a while since we've posted something. This is the first afternoon we've had a few hours of downtime. Here's what we've been up to:

5/20 Wednesday We spent the the morning exploring Cusco, admired the Inca walls that still stand, did some shopping, the San Blas district and the Plaza De Armas in Cusco. We took an afternoon tour with 9 other people to see the ruins around Cusco, Qoricancha, Sacsayhuaman, Puca Pucara and the Cusco Cathedral which was amazing. We got back and went straight to bed, no dinner. By about 6pm I was exhausted due to the altitude of 11,000 ft.

5/21 Thursday Well we were suppose to be up at 4:45 but I got up at 5:15 with a headache and saw the time and I've never seen Wayne move so fast, he jumped out of bed when I told him the time. He had set the 2 alarms for 5:45 not 4:45, the pickup for Machu Picchu was 6am. Well we were both a little stressed but since we had packed most of our stuff the night before we were fine and made it downstairs to be picked up with 15 mins to spare. We sat next to a couple on the train to Machu that looked familar and sure enough they had been at the same lodge with us in the Amazon, we chatted all the way there for 3 and a half hours. We got to the Sanctuary Lodge about 11:30 and our private tour didn't start till 2pm. Our guide recommended we have lunch and not enter Machu until he brought us in. Wayne was a little anxious but we waited. OH MY AND IT WAS WORTH IT. After we got through the ticket area our guide had us hold hands and asked us to trust him and walked us with our eyes closed several steps and then said when we were ready to open our eyes. We were standing on a the edge of a wall and the very sight of Machu Picchu was incredible and we both got teary eyed and well I'm teary eyed again just writing about it. Our tour guide was great and full of information. After our tour we explored Machu on our own till sunset. Then back to the Lodge for a 7:30 dinner reservation. The Sanctuary Lodge was a real treat, the meal were all included, we had a view of Huayna Picchu from our room and the gardens were beauitiful. Dinner was excellent and we were in bed by 9:30 due to we had an early morning start again the next day.

5/22 Friday Up at 5am, breakfast and checked out of the hotel by 6:15 and got in line for the entrance to Machu. Well the reason for the line and getting up so early is we wanted to hike the Huayna Picchu trail and they only allow the 1st 400 to do the hike. Lucky for us we had seen some friends we met in the Amazon in line and they were ahead of us and they got there tickets to do the hike and waited in line for us to hold us a spot. We got on the 7am hike which is what we wanted and well here's more about the hike. It was hard mostly stairs of varying sizes of granite blocks, we would walk a little and rest a little, the hike up took 1 hour and we rested and took lots of pics at the top. Wayne filled a memory card so we'll have lots to share. The hike down you would think was easy well it was easier but scary, very steep and slippery and the cable to hold on to was not everywhere, but we made it without falling and were at the bottom in 2 hours and 20 minutes. We headed straight to the snack bar for Gatorade and something to eat and to sitdown of course. Then back into the Citadel again till 12:30. We then headed to the day room at the Lodge and showered due to we were more then a little stinky. Then off to catch the train in Aguas Calientes. The ride back was extremely long we were 1 hour late coming in but we sat next to Vince and Barbara who were also staying at our hotel in Cuzco so we talked most of the way. They stayed at the Hoocoochie Towers, not exactly its name, in Aguas Calientes and really liked it. Our driver picked the 4 of us up at the train station in Poroy and half that way back he got a call that he had forgot 4 other passengers, but since Vince spoke spanish he told the driver we wanted to go to our hotel and not turn around to pick up the left folks. When we got back later Wayne went down to drop off our laundry, which this was the second time we've had a boat load, well not really since we really didn't bring much, of laundry to do. While in the lobby the family we didn't pick up at the train station was checking in and they were not happy that there driver had dropped off passengers and then came back to get them, it's 20 mins each way, needless to say Wayne didn't say anything to the unhappy people. Off to bed for both of us again with no dinner we were exhausted and I had an upset stomach, it must have been the food on the train or the Kiwichy bar, Wayne's tummy was a little rumbly but not as bad as mine.

5/23 Saturday today, up at 6:15, showers and breakfast. Pickup at 8:30 for a private tour of the Sacred Valley. Well we both thought really hard about cancelling, I was tired and Wayne is coming down with a cold, but we didn't want to miss anything and talked ourselves into going with the idea that we could come back early if needed. Well were glad we went the Sacred Valley was beautiful and if we ever come back I think we might stay there vs. Cusco. Here's a little about our tour: we saw Ollantaytambo which the stone work was even more detailed then Machu Picchu, then we went through Urubamba, Calca and then the Pisac market. The road back we saw pigs, donkey's more pigs all crossing the road at different times, it was quite funny. We then spent a little more time shopping in Cusco, had lunch and found a Pharmacy to pickup some cold tablets and contact solution. We're back at the hotel and we're suppose to be resting but I've checked my email and now we're posting this blog. Oh Wayne wanted me to mention my stomach is still not quite right but I'm really doing ok.

We have lots of pictures to post but this hotel has an old E machine and it doesn't recognize our memory stick. So you'll have to wait.

Tomorrow morning we have a 7am pickup for our trip to Puno. It's an 8 hour trip via bus as a group tour so we'll stop at several places along the way. We then will stay on Lake Titicaca for 2 nights and take a day trip to the Lake and experience the floating islands. I'm not sure if we'll have internet connection so we'll have to wait and see.

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Photos

Sanctuary Lodge
Sanctuary Lodge Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu, the view from the guard house

llamas Machu Picchu
llamas Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu
The citadel

The two of us
Wayne and Lisa at the Citadel