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Published: June 16th 2010
Day 3 - Tuesday
I was in 7th grade Spanish class, as my teacher Ms. Flynn went through her slides of her trip to Machu Picchu. She spoke of it’s magic and wonder, all while teaching us about the Inkas. I remember right then I said to myself, “I am going to go there someday.” Well, the dreams of Erin at age 13 came true today…I got to see Machu Picchu!
We took a late morning train from Ollantaytambo. Late last year, the Sacred Valley suffered devastating floods that wiped out huge sections of the railroad. In fact, Peru Rail just began operating again in May (whew!). Until then people’s vacations were ruined as sadly, there was no way to get to Machu Piccu. So with that said, we boarded buses and drove for an hour on the train tracks in some sections, through farmland, and on bumpy roads for about an hour north until we reached a station where we could board the train. While waiting for the train to depart, we bought some toasted corn from an older lady for 1 soles…we wish we would’ve gotten more because it proved to be a yummy snack today! The
train itself was very nice. We were on the “medium” class train today called The Vistadome because there are windows that wrap up into the ceiling. On the way to Cusco tomorrow evening we will be on The Backpacker, which is the “economy” train. We were served a boxed lunch and it was so adorable….the lady opened up our little lunch boxes and said, “We have a ham and cheese sandwich, and the ham is turkey….” Too cute!
The 17 mile journey took an hour and 25 minutes to reach Aguas Calientes. This is where we are staying the night tonight and the town where you catch the bus to actually take you up (and I mean UP) to Machu Picchu. We checked into our room quickly and headed straight for the bus…
I’ll say again that this lack of oxygen and massive amounts of stairs/climbing is not a great combo BUT after 5 min. of climbing there it was, as magnificent as I had always imagined it to be. I was surprised by the fact that I got emotional….I guess it was because this “lifetime pity” was 19 years in the making for me-and I really made
it! See little girls, your dreams can come true!
It’s perfectly set among a picturesque mountain range with lush green steep slopes. The views rival Guilin, China for us! We spent the afternoon exploring Machu Picchu, leaving some areas for tomorrow as we plan to be there bright and early.
We caught the bus back to Aguas Calientes at dusk, sat outside listening to some traditional music and me enjoying a cappuccino, and Matt the Peruvian beer he has fallen in love with. I walked back to the room while Matt scouted out a cash machine…little did he know that this would prove to be an adventure as half of the town was out of power causing the first bank he found to not have an operable ATM. The second bank’s ATM didn’t work, and then the money exchange place where he attempted to exchange dollars for soles was out of soles. He decided to head back to the original bank and luckily enough right as he walked up the power came back on!
We had dinner reservations (fancy for Peru I know, LOL!) for our anniversary dinner at the restaurant at our hotel…it’s called “The Tree
House." Matt had Alpaca tornadoes, and I had this Quinoa Risotta dish with chicken. We had this quinoa risotto type stuff as a side at lunch yesterday in Ollantaytambo and it was sooooo good. Tonight's was great as well! We are not sitting in an internet cafe, having an evening coffee and watching "Michael Jackson" perform the moonwalk in the street...complete with hair & thriller jacket! Who knew his spirit made it all the way to Peru!
Tomorrow is more Machu Picchu before getting into Cusco around 8:30pm.
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Tom Lyle
non-member comment
Happy Anniversary
Happy, Happy Anniversary to both of you....I know you can't just run and jump all over the place; oxygen, but let your day(s) be special! I still think you should ask your dad if he wants to go on some of your adventures.....