Inca Rail

---

Geo: -13.1628, -72.5158

I don't think Ive ever had less sleep in 7 days. Since arriving in Peru Id say Ive averaged around 3 hours broken sleep a night at best. The noise pollution at both hotels has been extreme. Again, we packed a day bag for a night away from Cusco. At 9pm the five us were on a bus headed again for Ollantaytambo, about a 90minute drive away. We arrived there around 10.30 and stopped at a cafe called Coffee Tree. Todays activity in the area was to explore the Inca ruins at Ollantaytambo, just across the valley from where we did that training hike just a few days ago.

Pete opted to rest and recover with Sam for company so just Nat, Will and I headed towards the ruins. After slightly underwhelming archaeological exploration yesterday, today was another exciting experience. These ruins were again spectacular, stairs and terraces climbing up into the mountains and overlooking the town below. At the top, remains of a barracks, watchtower, living quarters and a Temple of the Sun. Will left us at the summit to make it back to town on our own. Our route took us on a path winding along the mountains edge, by an old storehouse building and eventually back down to the ground. Here there was a Temple of the water where little channels and pipes were chiseled into rock to manipulate the flow of water and provide soothing mini waterfalls and ornamental trickles of water here and there. At the base of the ruins here, by the town, you could spin around 360 degrees and see amazing sights all around; towering mountains everywhere, with scattered ruins all over the place.

We returned to town, rejoined with the others and walked down to the train station. Here wed catch the Inca Rail from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes, the closest town to the wonder of Machu Picchu. The train was a nice experience in itself, comfortable allocated seats adorned with both side and roof windows that offered a beautiful view of the journey. There was a notable climate change from dry to jungle as we entered thick vegetation, vines and ferns. One thing Ive decided on is Peru has the grandest, most rugged, highest and steepest mountains and cliff faces Ive seen anywhere in the world. I think even compared to Norway, Switzerland or New Zealand, these mountains of the Andes are steeper and more imposing. They rise up so high into the clouds, at such a slope that at times, you literally cant see the top. The train ride even included complimentary Inca Cola and some local pastries.

We rolled into Aguas Calientes around 3pm to relatively sunny skies. We checked into our hotel Killa Inn, which appeared to be a big improvement on the previous two hotels. Our room on level 4 was set away from traffic thoroughfare and you could hear the soothing sounds of the river behind the hotel from the room. On the way in, you could see towering mountains all around. The rooms were simple but large and the beds (no double again) were soft and comfortable. The staff here were extremely friendly. Now, we had free time from 3pm to 6.30pm when wed meet our guide for dinner. We decided to explore the town on foot, on the way to the hot springs at the top of the town, renting some towels on the way. We actually found the city to be a pretty appealing place, albeit obviously a little touristy. There were plenty of cafes and cheap restaurants. The hot springs were a little underwhelming but still enjoyable none the less. I don't regret going but I wouldn't exactly recommend it to others. The waters looked a bit brown and murky. One empty pool looked like urine. All but one of the pools was luke warm at best. We spent the majority of the time in the largest, hottest pool chatting to a lady from Iceland. The pools all had no real floors, rather rocks and pebbles beneath our feet. It was still relatively relaxing.

We returned to the hotel on time to meet the others and head to dinner, literally next door. We had some delicious soups and amusing pizza. The four ingredients sounded good, but it was strange to see them literally spread into separate quarters of the pizza. I had a Pisco Sour here, and Nat and I also enjoyed some delicious and jumbo banana and strawberry smoothies. We were off to bed early tonight with a wake up time of 4.30am to get the bus to Machu Picchu!

---

Comments

[[e-mail]]

Excellent stuff. Some great pics.