We were picked up at 4am this morning for our trip to Machu Picchu. The driver took us to Ollantaytambo, a journey of 1 3/4 hours to catch the Peru Rail train to Aquas Calientes. Once there we had time to look around the town and have a coffee before meeting our guide Harold. We caught the bus for the steep, winding drive up to Machu Picchu. Harold then led us up the steps to get our first view of the city. That first glimpse is amazing. Looking down to the ruins. We climbed higher getting fantastic views each time.
We then went down to get a closer view, walking around the buildings with Harold pointing out the features. The sun temple has windows perfectly aligned to get the sun in the centre on midsummer’s day. After seeing all the ruins we took the bus back to Aquas Calientes and went for a meal. It started to rain when we left the mountain making it impossible to explore the town so we sat in the waiting room at the station, people watching instead. It was quite entertaining as there were all sorts of characters coming and going.
The train took us back to Ollantaytambo where we were picked up for the drive back to Cusco. We were extremely tired from the walking and climbing steep steps so went straight to bed.