Muyurina Aguas Calientes

... de 2kms, avec dénivelé de plus de 700m pour pouvoir arriver dans les 100 premiers pour pouvoir ensuite grimper (encore et toujours) le Wayna Picchu qui domine le site.
Des marches, encore des marches et toujours des marches! 1h30 de grimpette a la lampe torche, 5 litres d´eau perdus, et la pression d´arriver rapidement, dur dur donc. ON n´aurait pas été au Machu Picchu, j´aurais gémis un petit "j´en ai marre"!
Arrivé 5h10 a l´entrée du ...

... crammed into a box of smokes. she's stressing out and muttering things about buying tickets even though she's like fifth in line and i'm pretty sure there's still gonna be tickets when she gets to the window. now her face is all up in my shoulder and i'm wishing i had a few less layers on so i can lift my arm and give her the raw stanky business that's been abrewing the past, oh month or so. i keep looking at her in disbelief, "nobody else in this line ...

... Eventually, I managed to drowse off.

When we arrived in Aguas Caliente it was pouring down, and I was quick to get my rain poncho out as we made our way through the various artisan stables to the exit, where I found this man holding a sign with my name on it. There are no cars in Aguas Calientes except for the buses riding up to Machu Picchu and some trucks, so we walked for about 10 minutes to the hotel, Inti Winay Wanya. An OK basic hotel with no frills but a nice ...

... and the loudest thunder I had ever heard, all at 3000 metres above sea level, and eye=level with the snow=capped Andes.

Day 2

What we all really fancied after the previous day would have been a straight 2km, unbelievably steep, climb to 4200 metres at 7am. (not really of course, but that`s what we got anyway for good measure). I felt ill, nauseous but not sure if that might have been just the thought of the rest of the trip.

Suffice to say, we ...

On reaching Aguas Calientes, we saw hordes of travellers waiting on the bus to take them up to Machu PIcchu - it was that easy. Why we did the Inca Trail to get there needs a serious public enquiry! Enough about that though. I made a welcome return to form through sheer relief and even managed a bite and a couple of beers. We had 6 hours to kill until the train so the three of us ...

... we van daar te voet vertrekken. Onze gids vond het echter geen interessante route (langs de "auto"weg) en bovendien was het beter om op dag 1 al een stuk van dag 2 te stappen aangezien dag 2 anders te zwaar werd. We besloten dus om nog een stuk verder met het busje te rijden en in Cruz Pata te starten. De eerste dag was niet al te zwaar, het was een goed opwarmertje voor hetgeen nog moest volgen ;-). De zon was goed aan het branden, dus dat maakte het wel een stukje ...

... br>auf dem weg lernten wir noch einiges über die incas und die verschiedenen pflanzen, wie beispielsweise den coca-blättern welcher hier fast jeder kaut oder zumindest als mate trinkt. sie werden verwendet um den hunger zu unterdrücken und geben einem auch energie. der tee ist exzellent, doch das kauen der blätter hinterlässt einen hässlichen nachgeschmack und betäubt ...

... br>
On our way back, we stopped at the local flea market which had an abundance of souvenirs. A very pleasant merchant was playing his flute. As he saw me taking pictures of him, he went and changed his vest to a very lovely and colourful traditional Peruvian one. He then proceeded playing a very gentle soft music with his flute. Gracias senor para bella musica!

As we headed back ...

... br> Our Vistadome train departed on time. It had glass windows at the top giving us endless spectacular panoramic views of the Andes all around us. Our journey down the rails was like a journey made out in heaven. Here I was, this tiny little person, sitting in my seat looking outside the window at those huge breathtaking mountains as the train zigzag its way along the Urubamba river ...

We had a very good breakfast at our hotel in Yucay and then were picked up at 0715 to be transported in a Condor Tours van to the train station in Ollantaytombo, about a 20 minute ride. Our guide not only took us to the station and made sure we were checked in, but he stayed with us until we actually got on the train.

The train took us to Aguas Calintes, a town below Machu Picchu. We dropped our bags with bellboys from the hotel who met us at the train station. Our guide ...