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Published: January 29th 2016
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January 26
th We had good travels on the train from Ollantaytambo to Machu Picchu station in Aguas Calientes. Lots of scenery. Cows on some terraces. We sat across from some young girls who took at least 32 selfies during the 1.5 hour ride. They felt bad for us that we were not taking selfies, so they took a picture of us as well.
We took the bus up to Machu Picchu. We are not sure how many switchbacks on the way up the road, but we were happy to get to the top as the drop down off the cliff would not have been an acceptable ending. We checked into the Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge. Our room had a very nice view overlooking the mountains. We had a very nice lunch...finished with an assortment of treats including a chocolate covered strawberry. We entered the gates to Machu Picchu and got our passports stamped at the gate. The first views of Machu Picchu were amazing. The stonework was exceptional. We hiked up to one of the nicer vantage points and took some pictures. After that we headed towards the Inka bridge. There was a worker at the entrance to the
path at the top of the hill. He was not going to let us in as it was 315 p.m. and he said we could not go after 3. We stood at the top for a few minutes catching our breath. We were just about to head back down to where we came from, and he decided to let us through anyway. We hiked to the Inka Bridge. It is a really nice hike on the side of the cliff on a very narrow path. Pedro is getting over his fear of heights I think, or he just didn't want me to go by myself. There was one spot that was very narrow and there was only a knee high wall on the cliff side. There was a guy from South Carolina who had stopped at this point due to his fear of heights. His friends had gone ahead without him. He managed to take our picture, but even that made him nervous. Pedro did not want to stay behind so we continued on to the Inka bridge. It was carved into the side of the cliff and had wooden planks across the middle. This was not accessible for hiking.
I'm certain that we would not have gone across even if it was open for hiking. We met up with the rest of the group from South Carolina at the gate blocking the path to the bridge. They were happy to know that their friend was OK where they had left him. The hike back to the main part of Machu Picchu went well. We hiked through most of the main grounds taking note of the fine stonework. We saw the Alpacas and the Chinchillas. The staff of the grounds finally shuffled us out of Machu Picchu grounds at 5 p.m. when they closed.
We went to the hot tub at the Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge overlooking the ruins of Machu Picchu. The hot tub was not running due to the power outage at the Lodge, but it was still hot. We had a Pisco sour while chatting with a couple from New Jersey at the hot tub. We caught a picture of a really nice bird. Mary G. will need to identify the bird when we get back. The internet is down right now from the thunderstorm last night, so the posting of this will be
delayed. The thunderstorm from last night took out the power at the hotel so it is running on the generator. The whole area does not have any intertnet connection right now so this posting will be delayed until we get back online.
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