Machu Pichu, John was actually excited!



Chinchilla

 Up at 5:30, breakfast, and went by bus to near Machu Pichu, hereinafter referred to as MP.  You can walk up from the town, which is part of the Inca Trail, so I guess I should have so I wouldn´t be lying about hiking it.  Oh Well, I just thought of that right now.  Besides, just walking around the site was enough to kill me.  If I NEVER climb another Inca stairway, it will be fine with me,  They are very steep, the steps are too far apart, and the Incas were/are small.  I can look them in the eye!  This is just the indigenous people, not the average Peruvian with Spanish blood.

Anyway, when we got there, we had to pay Soles /1 for the bathroom, which is fine.  That means there will be toilet paper.  But you get a receipt for it, which I think is very funny.  Is this tax deductible, or what?  Sometimes, a couple of squares are already laid out for you when you pay, so I´m very glad we bought extra and carry it in our daypack.

So, up about 3000 steps, give or take a couple thousand, which of course I take in slow motion.  When we get to an overlook (the one you see in all the magazines with the stuffed llama in the foreground) it was all in clouds, so we couldn´t see squat of MP.  However there were some beautiful mountains I could take pictures of while Xavior  told us a lot of history, etc,  Low and behold, the sun began to rise over the mountains, and with it, the clouds began to dissipate.  Just like in the movies! Within about 15-20 minutes, no clouds were left and it was beautiful!  Unbelievable! Awesome!  Just like the pictures, but 100 times more.  One of those things you just have to see.  Xavior spent 2-3 hours walking around with us showing us things and explaining different things, then left us on our own to do whatever.   I took a bunch of pictures and even got a MP sunburn on my neck! 

Made it back down on our own with our bus pass, had lunch, and shopped a bit more on the local tourist market.   4:00, we went to the train station, and started what might be the longest train trip of a lifetime.  Four hours long, less than 60 miles, only 1 scheduled stop at Ollantaytambo, then on to somewhere about 15 minutes from Cusco.  Drivers picked us up and we were back to our good old B&B 9:45 or so.  I managed to get some zzzzzz´s on the train, and after the scheduled stop, very loud music came on, and the guy in charge of our car told us we´d have a fashion show with alpcaca items.  They picked a couple from our car, and they paraded up and down, really getting into it.  It was quite funny.  Then, of course, they came up the isle,  trying to sell the goods.

By the way, I now know the difference between alpaca and llama.