All that and more

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- FOOD: Well deserved huge pizza after walking for hours. Coffee and cake on the first class train back.

- AREA: WOW, worth it's status as a prime tourist site. Amazing, smooth rocked architecture, cool acoustics, stunning forested mountained backdrop, spiritual rocks.
Climb up the famous Waynapicchu mountain and down to the Temple of the Moon through jungle scenery.

- PEOPLE: Not too many to begin with but a mass of American tourists by the end. Excitable adults on the first class train back when the 'entertainment' came on - an alpaca fashion show!

- WEATHER: Glorious sunrise over the site.


Sat 18th: We got up very early to get to Machu Picchu (it means 'old mountain' in Quechuan) for sunrise. I tagged along with the tour group Stephen was on but got left behind as the queue for the tickets was so long.
I started walking around the site myself and then heard the tour guide calling me from high up (the acoustics are so amazing that apparently he just said my name in normal volume and I heard him!).

I joined them and we watched the glory of Machu Picchu as the sun rose over it. Spiritual, magical, dramatic, indescribable - yep, all that and more. What a place. No-one who visits Peru should miss this. The steep, forest covered mountains in the background and snow tipped ones further away add to the splendour.

The tour was very informative and good and we saw the Three-Windowed Temple, Intihuatana (hitching post of the sun, a carved rock used as a sun dial and astrological clock, aligned with 4 main mountains), rich and poor houses, Temple of the Sun (very smooth stone blocks and fab acoustics). The guide clapped his hands above the Sacred Plaza and we heard the echo go across the valley.

Stephen has a really good book called 'The White Rock' which explains how selfish the discoverer Bingham was and how the locals discovered it LONG before he did so he is called the 'scientific' discoverer which basically means he opened it up and publicised it to the world.

The site was like the Brighton of Inca times - one huge holiday home which was only inhabited during the high season and where slaves brought food up from the jungle. We saw rocks in the formation of condor wings, half an Incan cross where the sun forms the other half with the shadow, sanded rocks which must've taken forever to smooth down to make very well built temples and the Sacred Rock which matches the shape of the mountain in front of it.
We received positive energy from this rock to climb Waynapicchu - the high rock which is famous in the photos of Machu Picchu and which looks impossible to climb as it's so steep.

Loads of people were climbing it and it was embarrassing when much older people were overtaking us! After climbing for an hour, it was so worth it to be at the top and have panoramic views down onto the site. Stephen thinks like me about 'challenges' and so when we read that not many people then climb down to the 'Great Cave' (Temple of the Moon) and that it's advisable to take a guide, down we went without a guide.

So off we set, Lara and Indiana, fighting our way through the relatively untrodden jungle, not seeing another soul on the way to reach the cave which was hidden away, overhanging the river. It had a big throne and offerings to the gods and supposedly get lit up by the moonlight (we were not about to hang around until then to check if this was true). It was so cool and we could relax for a while, taking in the surrounding scenery before climbing back up.

Back at the site, we walked around for another couple of hours and then walked back down to Aguas Calientes rather than get the bus. We heard more snakes (ok, they were only little lizards). Oh my god, by the time we arrived back, we were exhausted and couldn't have taken another step. A well deserved beer and big pizza awaited.

I only just caught my train back as the first class train goes from a special, first class station and not the normal one like I thought. The extra 30 dollars for this privilage included windows in the ceiling (pointless because it was dark), a table, separate seats and a carriage load of rich old South Americans on holiday and chatting like excitable schoolkids in loud voices.

However, the ultimate highlight of this journey was a performance by a man with a white mask charming the ladies and an fashion show of alpaca clothes!!! Hilarious and it excited the females even more when the male model appeared - anyone would think the Chippendales had put in an appearance the way they were behaving!!

We also got served coffee, cake and biccies so that kept me happy. When I eventually got back to Cuzco, the main plaza was HEAVING with people - lots running to get somewhere. There were bands playing, lights flashing, big parties and lots of fireworks. I guess the sun festival has begun! It was great but I got freaked out by the crowds and had to go through the back streets to get back to the hostel - scary.

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