LLamas. They apparently live at Machu Picchu. But of course I shoved this photo here so that it will pop up as the cover photo for today's blog.
Woke up this morning not feeling a whole lot better than last night, even though I was guzzling water (that generated a different problem) and following all the other recommendations. I wasn't sure how I was going to make it through Machu Picchu, but somehow I was going to do it.
The hotel was just gorgeous - wouldn't have minded to stay there a couple of days to stare at the beauteousness:
But after breakfast it was time to rock and roll. The trip to Machu Picchu is the second time we needed to pull out a subset of stuff to take with us, while the big suitcases make their way back to Cuzco. Plus we also need yet another subset of stuff to send to the hotel at Machu Picchu as opposed to the stuff we will carry around with us all afternoon. So complicated. Foggy brain cells.
Before heading to Machu Picchu, we made a stop at another Incan archeological site at Ollantaytambo.
Now, Danny had mentioned that my walking stick needed a rubber tip to cover the point otherwise I might not be able to bring it in to the park. He had mentioned that there would be vendors selling them in Ollantaytamba - I could see walking sticks for sale in almost every store front, but I figured I would ask Danny which one would be the best bet for the rubber tips. Didn't need to worry - as we came off the bus in Ollantaytamba, we were accosted by street peddlers. The very first one standing at the bottom of the bus steps held out a rubber tip - I bought two for good measure for all of $3. Problem solved!
Before walking through the Inca ruins, we looked at a villager's house, complete with Guinea pigs in the kitchen
And maybe an altar or two to Great Grandpa
The ruins at Ollantaytamba were an Inca temple where the priests and upper class lived. Of course, this temple was at the top of a zillion steps:
We had two tour guides with us - our regular one, Danny, and a local guide, Luis. Luis led the group to the top, and Danny stayed down at the bottom for those of us who didn't want to climb to the top. Danny made sure that we received all the same information as the group going to the top, so that we weren't missing out on anything.
The idea was - find something interesting to do in the morning while everybody else was crammed into Machu Picchu and go there in the afternoon after everybody else was gone.
As we were walking around, I suddenly realized that I was walking at my normal pace. And that my head didn't feel stuffed with cotton. I don't know exactly when it happened - it was as if someone flipped a switch - but apparently I had acclimated to the altitude. At least at 9,000 feet.
Here's a view from the first terrace (as far as I was willing to climb)
There's only two ways to get to Machu Picchu - take the train or walk. Of course, we were taking the train.
We had assigned seats - originally Andy and I weren't even near each other, but some quick negotiations fixed that. The train ride was 1 hour and 45 minutes, including a snack and a sales pitch for some merchandise. We had our "Machu Picchu" bags with us - the big suitcases were on their way back to Cuzco.
At the Machu Picchu station, we still weren't there yet. We boarded a bus for a hair raising half hour ride up the mountain.
And then we were there - Machu Picchu in all its glory:
Even more amazing and stunning than any photos.
Btw (random side note), I had noticed that Danny and Luis didn't pronounce it "Mah-choo PEE-choo". It was more like "Mah-choo PIK-choo". Which actually made more sense, Spanish-pronunciation-wise.
After a group photo by a professional photographer (which we will get at some point), the group was split into three parts to make it more manageable. The best part of this - a slow poke group for those of us who need a bit more time to climb up and down steps. That's me!
Our guide's name was Wilfred - a local guide from the area. He was wonderful - knew his stuff cold and had endless patience as we hauled ourselves up, down, and around. At some point we passed the other two groups - somehow we were getting ahead of them, even though we were walking and climbing much more slowly. HAH, so much for the slow poke group!
Wilfred made the scene come alive - Machu Picchu is pretty much not restored - everything that is there is the original. It has avoided earthquakes and other natural disasters. It is still not known why it was abandoned.
Wilfred took posed photos of us along the way:
Andy walked up to the top of an extra set of stairs to see a stone that original was thought to be a sun-dial. People used to touch it to feel the "energy". People are no longer allowed to touch this stone:
We met him on the other side of a wide open space - where we saw the llamas (header photo).
It was time to start the climb down. This took a while, but we arrived back at the bottom exactly on time at 4:15 p.m., 3 hours after we started.
AND - we were the first ones back!
Wilfred stamped our passports with an official Machu Picchu stamp - forever proof that we had visited.
When everybody had come back, we boarded the bus to go back down the mountain to our hotel. The entrance to the hotel? More steps!
We filled in our registration cards and went to our rooms. We are in the 1100 wing - the first floor - and what do we see when we head in that direction - more steps!
There was a cooking demonstration at 6:45, but Andy went off by himself. I met everybody at dinner at 7:00.
We were all talking about what we were going to do tomorrow morning before we needed to get back on the train to begin the journey back to Cuzco. Originally we thought we might go back to Machu Picchu and climb up to this house perched on a hill. This I think I could do:
But it's a complicated proposition. Another option was to go to a local museum, or just go shopping. We haggled back and forth with a few people as to a "reasonable" time to meet for breakfast - How about 7:00 a.m.? How about 7:30?
How about not?! We know we always have crazy busy vacations, but this was the first opportunity in days and days to NOT get up at 6:00 a.m. Nope, nope, nope, not going to do it. I'm finally feeling myself again - I'd like to keep it that way, considering we're going back UP to Cuzco at 11,000 feet.
While this discussion was going on, Danny stopped by to say he would lead a group starting at 6:00 a.m. to climb the last stretch of the Inca Trail to the "Sun Gate", which is that cut off peak behind the house in the photo above. Well, the rest of the crowd was excited by that idea, but, yeah, no, no thanks. We have had a full and satisfying Machu Picchu experience in just our 3 hours today.
The wifi in this hotel is as flaky as all the others. We're sitting in the "business center" on the third floor - the reception seems to be a little better. There are 3 computers here; 2 actually turn on and work. Windows in Spanish!
So tomorrow we will sleep in a bit, then pack up, check out and go wandering around the town until it's time to back to the train and back to Cuzco.
Bucket list item: Machu Picchu - CHECKED.
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