Spanglish Accent: Machu Picchu

Another early, early wake up call for day 2. I wasn't sure who was going to be crabbier on the train ride - me or my girls. I am NOT a morning person. And morning to me is any time before 8 am. Wake me up at 5 and I would just stay out of my way for the next couple of hours. Do it 2 days in a row and you might just want to sit in the next train car.

Thankfully the scenery and the company were too good to be crabby for long. It's about 3 1/2 hours from the Poroy station to the one at the base of Machu Picchu called Aguas Calientes. 3 1/2 hours and yet it is only 107 km (67 miles) between the two points. If my math is correct our train was whizzing along at a whopping 19 mph on average. Not exactly a high speed rail but if you saw the zig zags and switchbacks it took to get us down the mountain (yes, down - Machu Picchu is at a lower altitude than Cuzco) then you would understand the need for caution. At one point the train stops, moves forward for about 200 yards, stops, moves backwards for about 200 yards and keeps doing this until we scale down the side of the mountain in this manner. Interesting (and not good for those who get carsick). But the view was great. Picture taking not so easy as it was raining a bit and shooting through dirty and wet glass makes it almost impossible.

They assumed the usual position.

We arrived at the Aguas Calientes station at a bit after 10:30 am and after a quick walk to our bus we were on our way up the side of a very scary looking mountain. At least it looked scary the few times I opened my eyes. You see, there are no guard rails, no safety barriers, nada, zilch. Just one lane and a sheer drop that kept getting farther and farther down and even sheerer (is that a word???) the higher we kept climbing. And the one lane didn't make it easy for the buses we met coming down the hill. It was a game of chicken to see who would back up until they got to a spot that both buses could pass by each other. Barely. Hence the reason my eyes were tightly shut.

And then we were there. Machu Picchu. I don't really have a lot to say about it that can't be said better by someone else. So if you don't know much about it, click here or here and it will give you all of the details. Let me just say it was stunning. Awe inspiring. Amazing. Incredible. Unbelievable. Once in a Lifetime.

And the girls were fabulous. They walked every single step of the way. Which is saying a lot. They must have climbed 600 steps each. And those steps covered miles of ground. But they were just as awestruck as the rest of us and truly enjoyed seeing it all. It probably didn't hurt that they have seen a movie called The Emperor's New Groove a few times. I think the reason they were so excited about visiting these old stones that really don't hold any history for them is that Cuzco (the main character in the movie) lives here and is their prince. We spent most of the day looking for Cuzco's house to see if we could say hi (much to the chagrin of our guide who really didn't understand why we were looking for a person named Cuzco and not the city). Whatever keeps them interested I say.

We spent a bit over 3 hours scouring the hillsides and learning about the ruins. It rained on us for a bit but that didn't dampen our spirits. We herded kids away from the edges (again, no safety rails and long, steep drops everywhere). We asked questions. We took pictures. We walked every inch of the place. And finally, we found Cuzco's house. At least according to MadHatter. She wanted to know where he was and I told him he had just gone on vacation. To Santiago. Maybe we could catch him there when we got back. She agreed and was just happy to have finally seen where he lived.

We headed back down the mountain on our perilous bus ride (just as scary coming down), shopped in the street market for a bit and then caught our train back. This time it was only 2 hours as we would be taking a van the rest of the way to the hotel. If I told you that the bus rides were scary - they had nothing on our van driver. Pouring down rain, no vents that work, completely fogged windows that he kept smearing with a dirty rag, a lead foot that had us traveling at high speeds as close as possible to the car in front of us. Glad the kids were asleep and I tried to fake it. We were all sure we were not going to make it back alive. B kept saying that at least they would have our passports to identify the bodies. Not funny then. A little bit now.

But those were just minor nuisances in what was probably one of the most memorable days of our lives. Nothing will spoil the memories that we made that day (this trip).