Sacred valley and Train to Aguas Calientes

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Tuesday 29.6.2010 day 258
Sacred valley and Train to Aguas Calientes
We had to get up at 7am today to have bfast and get to our sacred valley tour. We had to pick up out train tickets as the agent did not drop them off the day before. So we got to the travel agency and they did not have the tickets so we said we need then now or we want our money back so she phoned someone up to pick them up. They came and dropped them off but then the girl said that she was not going to show us to the buss we asked and asked and then she said we get it out the front. But that did not seen right and if we missed the buss that was going to take us to the train and we would miss the train. I flagged down a passing cop and said that we had booked this tour though then but they would not show us the buss to get on. After a long chat eventually the cops and the agent walked us to the buss and we got on just in time. Then there was too many people on the bus it seem like the agent had re sold our bus ticket and had no intention of us getting on it. So the guide gave up his seat and they found a bus for the other person. On the bus most people had problems with their tickets some people will getting the train like us but did not have their train tickets even though they had payed for them other had paid for lunch but had to pay again as they were not included. Others did not know they had another $130 soles to pay for entry’s and did not have the money so could not go to any of the sites we went to. Others hard problems walking or small children so could not walk up to any of the sites at is was too steep. I felt sorry for the tour guide and he was lots of fun. He set up a rule that the last one in the buss each time had to dance. One of the times we were almost last but another two girls came in after us so we were very lucky and were always one of the first on after that. The last people would dance down the buss isle while the bus was going around sharp bends and with Peruvian music very loud. We want to the markets at Pisa It was very relaxing driving around the mountains country side with the fantastic music. All the Inca sites we went to we had to walk up hundreds of stairs so we were very glad when it was lunch. We had an all you can eat buffer and even got to eat lama. On the way to the to the next site Ollantaytambo there were people dancing in the street and a fair in the town and so much traffic that the streets were blocked so we had to walk the rest of the way with our bags and as this was the stop were we were getting the train we had to take them as well. By the time we go to the Incan site we were excursed and then we say the stairs we had to climb. We decided to only go half way up and then walk to the train station. We were very early but sorted out our tickets and had a rest there. Then as the line was out we had to get a bus for ½ the train trip and as there was no were to put our bags on the mini busses they had us on (41 in total) they were all in the stair way so if we had an accident we could not get out. So on the bus it is a one lane road and there is another 41 buses coming from the train plus other traffic so every 5 min’s there is a traffic jam it was so bad that on several occasions we saw drives of the cars and busses getting out and pissing on the side of the road for anyone to see. The road was very thin and windy and it was a very bad trip but then we saw these 3 dogs and people running down the road the buss drive tots his horn and the people get off the road but the dogs just keep going straight into the buss. The buss did not stop and the dogs were ether very badly hurt or killed and when we got to the temporary train station we could see that they had done damage to the bus. There were thousands of people at the station waiting for lots of trains’ eventually our train came and we had a long walk down to the station and as there was no platform we had to jump into the train. On the train our seats were not together so that was no good. Then on the train there was a bat in the train and it was flying around everyone was running around upset and trying to catch it. The train also keep stoping and losing power then going again. Eventually we got there and out hostel had a pick up but we had not got a replay from our email asking for it so we were not really expecting to see them. There were so many signs with people’s names there and even our hostel with our name and some others. They took us to our Machu Picchu guide who gave up our bus and entrance tickets and told us that we needed to get a 5:30 am bus to Machu Picchu tomorrow to meet our guide. We did not expect to see the guide there as he was to meet us in our hostel and after the problems with the agent we thought we would not get our tickets at all. Then the hostel pick up person walked us to the hostel and pointed out were we need to get the buss the next day. As the only way to get in and out of Aguas Calientesis by train they do not have a lot of roads or taxi so a pick up means we will walk you to the hostel and you get to carry all your bags. We checked in to the hostel and found out that the free bfast starts at 4am so that was good news. We try to have a shower but the water was cold so we just had a quick wash and went to bed excursed.

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