FUN-travel: South America: Cusco to Machu Picchu, Peru

March 2, 2012 by  

Day 17 – Monday, February 20 – Cusco to Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu at 9:30 am

  • Good news – we are off to see our 3rd New 7 Wonders of the World!
  • Bad News – pick up @hotel is 5:05 am
  • Bad News – need to drive 90 minutes to train station – (Cusco trains don’t run in February because of potential mud/rock slides on tracks)
  • Good News – arrive train station 6:35
  • Really Good News – train departs 7:05 – last week mud slides closed tracks 2 days & week before for 4 days!
  • Good News – on Peru Rail – nice Dome train – big seats – takes 90 minutes to go 27 miles
  • More Good News – we are down to 7000 ft
  • 1st stop – arrive Aguas Calientes (town @ base of Machu Picchu) @ 8:30 – thin wispy fog like clouds hug the mountains & the Urubamba river roars by

Machu Picchu at 12:30 pm

  • Bad News – now have to transfer to bus for another 30 minute ride up one lane windy, twisty road
  • 2nd stop – sacred ruins on top of mountain – 8000 ft
  • Bad News – raining, shrouded in fog & clouds (have a déjà vu moment – same thing happened to us at the Great Wall of China)
  • Good News  – by 11 am fog is going away & rain stops
  • Lunch stop – buffet @ Tinkuy in Sanctuary Lodge
  • More Good News – sun comes out after lunch & low clouds are gone!
  • Good News  – I insisted on spending the night here – (travel mantra #1, “I’m only doing this once.”
  • Good News – Inkaterra is lovely (& expensive) – as LA Times travel reporter says, “If you can afford it, stay there) – rustic casitas w/fireplaces, private outdoor patios & thatched roofs (moss grows quickly, then flowers & plants attach)  – breakfast, lunch, dinner, afternoon tea & happy hour drink Pisco Sour included
  • Good News – take stroll through town to market (stalls of vendors selling tons of junk mostly)

    Alice the Alpaca

  • Bad News – totally forgot about happy hour – what was I thinking! clearly I wasn’t! too busy haggling in the market
  • More Good News – Machu Picchu is a tropical rain/cloud forest – orchids & flowers, hummingbirds & butterflies are abundant on my outdoor patio

FF – (FUN-facts) – You can walk in on the Inca trail. It takes 4 days & 3 nights and starts at kilometer marker 82.

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