Day 6: Machu Picchu

Mood: Awestruck
Music: Idlewild

As I left off last night I was sat in the bar with  couple of Ozzies chatting about how our days had been. This conversation drifted onwards over several rounds of beers and pisco sours and some wine until it was too late to go out and get any dinner and the bar itself had shut... They are a couple of really nice guys and have offered to take me water skiing when I'm in Sydney next month!

Today itself started early as my innate ability to wake up at 8am sharp when hungover was carried through to this time zone with me being wide awake at 3am! I tried to get back to sleep after that but manage little more than a doze until I had to be up not long after 6am.

At half past 7 Hilda (my local guide) and I boarded the train to the town below Machu Picchu. The train follows the path of the Urubamba river the whole journey. The river at this time of year (rainy season) is swollen and rushing, wild and violent rapids are visible the whole way. After a while the dry farmland gave way to lush cloud forest stretching far into the cloud kissed mountain that define the path of the river.

The sharp mountain rise high and sharply around us as the valley turns to gorge. Plants cling to the sheer rock faces in all kinds of shapes and sizes. As you might be able to tell, this is the first time I've seen such things as jungle with my own eyes.

On arrival we departed the train and boarded a bus up to the former mountain top village of Machu Picchu. The bus takes many turns back on itself before you are let off to climb the last few meters yourself. By climbing up the hill from here we aquainted ourselves with the view that the trekkers get when entering the site via the sun gate. It is from near here that the classic photo is to be found over the site.

Taking this photo would prove to be more of a challenge than one might expect as keeping tourists out of it as much as possible is really rather challenging at times. The site itself is quite simple breath taking. I was simply dumbstruck, not only by the beauty of the site itself but also of the mountains surrounding it. Hopefully the photos on picasa accurately reflect this.

Following my enlighting tour of the site we came back down the mountain by bus to stop in town for lunch. After that we went to have a look at the gardens of the sister hotel to that I'm staying in. There I took many photos of orchids in their extensive and rather impressive gardens and also spent a long while trying to take photos of hummingbirds feeding in the feeders that have set up. Sadly some species of hummingbird are very agressive and they kept attacking any others each time they came near.

After that I met up again for diner with the Ozzies from last night and had dinner and some more drinks with them and Hilda. We've also arranged to go for a meal in Cusco tomorrow evening which should be good as they make for great company.

My battery is about to die again and I won't see my charger until my afternoon tomorrow so I''ll sign off here!