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Published: October 6th 2008
After breakfast (very early) this morning, someone from the hotel drove us to the train station in Ollantaytambo to catch our 7:45am train to Machu Picchu. We arrived at about 9:15am and someone from Condor Travel (Frida) was waiting for us to escort us up and be our tour guide for the day.
Another Condor agent took our bags to our hotel and we immediately boarded the bus to Machu Picchu. It´s about 20 minutes to the top, and you can´t really see much until you are almost there. But when you get there... WOW! I don´t really even have the words to describe how absolutely incredible this place is. There is no doubt in my mind why it is one of the seven wonders of the world. And to think that it was pretty much undiscovered until Hiram Bingham came upon it in 1911 is incredible.
It was drizzling when we arrived and started to rain harder as we began our hike. Apparently the weather here is quite unpredictable. It will rain one minute, then clear up and be hot the next, only to rain again ten minutes later. The good thing about the rain is that it
means that the mosquitos won´t bother you. They are rampant here otherwise so you have to be well prepared with lots and lots of sunblock!
Some of the things we saw today:
- the Guardhouse
- the Main Gate
- West Agricultural Zone
- Temples Zone
- The Three Windows Temple
- the Main Square
- the Ceremonial Rock
- Temple of the Condor
- Fountains
- the Storage Areas
We pretty much covered all the main areas. There is a hike you can do up to Waynapicchu Mountain but they only allow the first 400 people (split into two groups) inside and I don´t think we´re going to attempt it. It´s about a two-hour hike roundtrip and there is already a lot of walking to do. Machu Picchu is HUGE!
Since there is a nationwide strike in Peru tomorrow, we are staying an extra night in Aquas Calientes because the trains won´t be running tomorrow. We have yet to find out if the buses to Machu Picchu will be running or not, but either way, I think we are going to hike the Inca Trail up
tomorrow. It´s about an hour hike up the mountain and is much less daunting than the four-day hike that some (very adventurous) people choose to do.
After our tour of Machu Picchu, we had a buffet lunch at the Sanctuary Lodge and then took the bus back to Aquas Calientes to check into our hotel. the Inkaterra (also called the Machu Picchu Pueblo) Hotel. This place is beautiful! The hotel is much prettier than the Sanctuary Lodge and also much cheaper. It also has all these added amenities such as ecological tours around the grounds, tea time and pisco hour (all you can drink for free!), plus breakfast, lunch and dinner are included.
Tonight we are going to wander around Aquas Calientes and then tomorrow it´s day two in Machu Picchu!
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Michael
non-member comment
Oooh, really can't wait to see your photos of Machu Picchu, the places you visited sound fascinating. Photos from pisco hour sound like they may be good too! Hope the buses are running so you get to explore more of Machu Picchu and take more of your fantastic photos!