Machu Picchu

Hello Everyone, I am sorry for the delay in updating the blog but the internet connections were less than adequate. The scenery however was fantastic. The first day we did the tour of the sanctuary, the second day we hiked to the Sun Gate on the Inca Trail, and the third day we hiked to the Inca Bridge which is the other way on the Inca Trail. Having a room at the Sanctuary Lodge, which is on Machu Picchu, was definately the way to go. We did not have to waste time going up and down the mountain on the bus. The pictures do not do justice to the bridge. you really have to see the cliff into which it is built to appreciate it.

The longest Day

1-27-2008
The longest Day
Everything started innocently enough. We did not have the vouchers or any reservation confirmations for the Cuzco hotel, the Peru Rail train, the LAN airline tickets, a variety of tour vouchers, or the drivers to get us to our connections. But we were off. Worst case we would get to Peru and wing it. The only reservation confirmations that we had were for the flights to and from Lima and the hotel in Lima. We made those reservations ourselves. So off we went.
Arriving in Lima at 11:30 PM we found our driver and were whisked off to the hotel. Our first surprise was that our “morning flight” to Cuzco was leaving at 5:10AM and the driver would be bringing us back to the airport at 3AM. So after an hour and a half of sleep we showered and went back to the airport. We were in Cusco at 6:30AM. Lo and behold another driver was there to pick us up and bring us to the hotel, the Monasterio. He had our vouchers for the hotel and our tours that day. At this point we realized that the country of Peru operated on the philosophy of JIT, Just In Time. The vouchers that we needed were going to show up just in time.
In Cuzco we were at 13000 feet of elevation but it was not bothering us. We toured the archeological sites on the outside of the city and an Inca ruin right in town and did some walking around the downtown ourselves. As usual we found an architectural gem that was not on the tourist lists. It was a convent with an attached chapel and tons of beautiful art. I bribed the guard and got a few minutes of picture taking time inside. I checked later and it is not on any of the tour lists. As the day finally ended we enjoyed a wonderful dinner at the hotel restaurant. Yes, I did have the Guinea pig as an appetizer, it tastes like the dark meat in turkey, and Alpaca loin which tastes just like veal, both were excellent. So, with the exception of our short nap in Lima, we had been going for 30 hours, so we were off to bed. The driver was picking us up at 5:30AM for our train to Agua Calientes, the train stop for Machu Picchu.