An Incredible Place

We meet Vidal and the group early to beat the crowds at the ruins. Some of our group have already gone up to hike Huayna Picchu. They had to get up at 3:30 AM to grab one of the limited number of passes. I really wanted to hike it, but the prospect of waking up that early certainly put a damper on that idea. I suspect that this will not be my last trip to Peru. The day is spent exploring the ruins. Vidal takes us through all of the things that saw, but didn't understand, yesterday. After the excellent tour, Ashley, Chris and I hike to the Sun Gate on the Inca Trail. We sit and talk and just stare at Machu Picchu. We descend to Aguas Calientes by bus and meet the group to take the train down to Cusco. I'm surprised by how slow the train goes, but suppose that is due to the damage that was sustained by last years' landslides and floods. The train follows the river for several hours before we depart in Ollantaytambo. Our van takes us back to Cusco. We get in fairly late and Ashley and I hurriedly rush to A Mi Manera for dinner. We order Alpaca and pisco sours and discuss the amazing things we have seen and done over the past several days. We wish we could spend several more days exploring Cusco, but we're off to Lake Titicaca tomorrow!