The Sacred Valley of the Inkas

Trip Start Dec 15, 2008
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Trip End Jan 16, 2008


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Flag of Peru  , Sacred Valley,
Thursday, January 1, 2009

After an awesome, expensive train ride, we arrived in Aguas Calientes, at the foot of Machu Picchu. We thought we were organised in that we had some one collect us at the station when we arrived, only to find out that it involved having a girl walk us across the road and up the hill. Rather nice room with fantastic mountain views from our window. Unfortunately this town is the connection point for anyone going up to Machu Picchu, so as expected this town is VERY tourist orientated and prices at least double that of anywhere else in Peru. As usual Wendy had the day planned with a visit to the Machu Picchu Museum, Botanical Gardens and Hot Springs. The Museum was a bit disappointing considering their location. The visit to the springs was also rather "interesting" - I have heard that the smellier the baths are, the better they are for you, due to the sulphur content etc... but these baths just smelt like we were bathing in a large toilet bowl, definitely not something we would name a town after (Aguas Calientes = Water Hot).

Today was also New Year´s Eve and the town´s locals having been itching to let lose their arsenal of fireworks throughout the day - so we knew it was going to be big. The fireworks started at least 30 minutes before New Year´s for those that just could not wait any longer and ended about an hour after New Year´s. We found quite a nice pub and considering that most beers are sold by the litre proceeded to get rather mellow. We finally went to bed with about a 4 hours to go before our trip up to Machu Picchu.

Catching one of the first buses up to Machu Picchu on New Year´s day we managed to get some good pics before the masses arrived. Definitely a highlight was a exhausting climb up Wayna Picchu which overlooks Machu Picchu. Not much else to write about the day, which the the pictures can´t say for themselves.
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