Inca Incredible

The village of Machu Picchu also referred to as Aguas Calientas is a beautiful and tiny village nestled in a valley among the peaks of the jungle. The locals all seem busy either working in the local market, waitering or building new buildings. The place is a buzz of activity and during our first day of arrival it was the Peruvian run-off election, so many of those who live in the surrounding villages were catching the train in to vote - people actually get fined if they do not vote. Yesterday I saw that the candidate that won on Sunday night was previously in power from 1985-1990 - basically bankrupting the country.

The weather has been nice and warm during the day 20+ degrees and cooler around 4:00 onwards as the sun gets blocked by the surrounding peaks. Upon leaving our hostel in Cusco the owner was adamant that our plan to stay (3) nights in the village of Machu Picchu was way over the top and that (1) night would suffice. However after catching the 5:30am train from Cusco we spent the rest of the day (1) chilling doing some laundry which we would learn is now a bit of a headache, and taking in the incredible scenery. Day (2) we caught the 5:30am bus from the village of Machu Picchu to the actual sanctuary of Machu Picchu, all this to avoid the tours that arrive on the early train from Cusco around 9:30am. We had the whole place to ourselves, and the first site of Machu Picchu is just indescribable. The incredible site of the ancient Inca ruins with the jungle in the background is just an awesome site - pics don´t do it justice. Having shaken off the feeling of being overwhelmed we hiked over to the Inca Trail Bridge which is no longer in use, and no wonder why - its freak´n along a cliff that drops about 2,500 feet straight down.

We certainty have a great deal of respect for those who conquer the Inca Trail - it looks menacing to say the least and we could only see the last 1 hour of the trail as it descends from the Sun Gate into the site of Machu Picchu.

Having fought a couple episodes of the runs all day (this is usually Isabel´s thing!) we took in a meal at a recommended French restaurant (Indio Felix). It was awesome to say the least - for $13 we each got an appetizer, entrée and desert. We both went for the French onion soup and baked/steamed trout (no al Paccha or Guinea Pig tonight) - passed on dessert as after a few 600ml beers we were fuller than full.

Laundry, Aw Gotta love travelling. Our rooms are extremely damp (Hostel - Gringo Bills), so everything we washed upon our arrival is still completely soaked. There are no washing machines or dryers in the village of Machu Picchu so drying laundry is left up to Mother Nature. However, leaving clothes out for Mother Nature to do her thing doesn´t work when your not around to watch it (hint don´t purchase North Face, settle for Walmart & Kmart Brands). Our room does have a little heater however unless either the balcony or front door is left open for an open invitation to the mosquitoes it turns off in seconds. After two days we have solved this problem by leaving our balcony door open and knowing that we will have to fend the mosquitoes off tonight - Aw there´s not a more relaxing sound than a few mosquitoes buzzing in your ear and getting into your sleeping insert!

Today we headed up to Machu Picchu with one thing in mind - climb to the top of Wayna Picchu (that´s the mountain in the background of all the Machu Picchu pics). The hike was awesome and well worth every breath. No matter how many times or from how many different angles you view Machu Picchu the site is breath taking. Hopefully we can sort through the 250+ pics that we have both taken in order to share the incredible site of Machu Picchu (oh that was 250, minutes ago Isabél´s digital camera pulled a fast one and deleted every single picture taken today). Canon´s webiste isn´t recognizing the camera so recovering them via a download from the internet isn´t working either - this is truly a sad moment tonight.

Aw.......... back to the travel blog. Off to Cusco by train today before heading into the Sacred Valley. The valley is completely socked in as the rain has begun to fall - good day to spend on the internet.

Oh Gotta Love Travelling, Cheers for now!

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