So, the last time you heard from the intrepid travellers, we were planning on getting up early on Monday morning to scout out some Inkan ruins..

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You know that old saying, a bad rehearsal makes for a good performance? Well, we were counting on that on Monday, when we woke up 45 minutes later than planned! We couldn’t do that on Tuesday  or there would be no trip to Machu Picchu.

The longer story is that I slept with earplugs on Sunday night, and Julian generally sleeps like the dead so we both missed the alarm at 6am. The girls apparently heard it but didn’t bother to tell us! We awoke about 6:45am, promised ourselves we’d set three or four alarms for the next morning, and got ready to go out.  A few minutes later, we were walking through the town. I don’t know why I was surprised to see all the activity around us. As Julian said, the sun is up and so are the locals. There is an elementary school on our street, so there were kids walking to school or being driven in. The high school is elsewhere, we presume, given the number of uniformed teenagers we saw waiting for rides in the town square. We had a lovely, if a bit chilly, walk over to the artisan’s market and the ruins.

Once there, we bought our Boleto Generale — good for 10 days, only 130 Soles (~$60Cdn) per adult and 70 Soles (~$32Cdn), and it provides a visit to 16 different historical sights in the Sacred Valley and Cusco. We also hired a licenced guide for a tour. He gave us a flat rate for the family, 50 Soles for an hour’s guided tour. He was accompanied by his preschool-aged son, who was unspeakably cute! So we had a “big persons’ tour guide” and a “little persons’ tour guide” to match our group of “big people” and “little people” (I’ve posted a photo of the son with my Girl Guide doll, Lexi, on Lexi’s Twitter feed: www.twitter.com/LexiGGWarner ).

The reward for our early start was a near-empty site, and lots of amazing photo opportunities without other tourists about. Julian took some nice shots which I hope he’ll be able to post soon. We thoroughly enjoyed the tour, and did not regret our early morning at all.

Another reward for our early start was that breakfast was ready when we got “home”. We all had some scrambled eggs, along with the usual fresh warm bread, local jams and wild jam, and tea for the adults. We rested for the balance of the morning and early afternoon, and hung out at Casa de Wow. By mid afternoon we set out again, this time on a trial-run of our walk to the train station. It’s about 20 minutes door to door, from the hostel to the platform. We figured it would be best to know what it looked like by daylight, so that we weren’t trying to navigate completely foreign territory at 4am the next day. The walk was pleasant, and gave us the opportunity to have some delightful ice cream on the way back! A single cone or cup sells for 5 Soles (under $2.50Cdn), and a double sells for 8 Soles (under $4Cdn), and worth every cent! I had a double, of “Chocolate Cusco” and “Tresor del Inkas” – the latter is truly local, as it contains grains/cereals from the area. It was sort of a butterscotch ripple. Julian and Clara had a version of French Vanilla, (plus chocolate for Julian’s secondscoop).

Eventually we made our way to the square, where we looked for a “hamburguese” for Clara. A small bakery-snack bar had photos of beef burgers, so Clara and Julian ordered two burgers while Jillian and I looked at menus elsewhere. Before long, we had found an acceptable place (Jill wanted to try asparagus soup at a place around the corner, facing the square). We went back to the bakery-snack bar and still, no burgers. Jill sat with the others while I went for a stroll. One loop of the square, still no burgers. Two loops of the square, still no burgers. Eventually I wandered up a side street, came back down and yes, there were burgers. Sadly for the diners, these were chicken-on-a-bun burgers! We had made the assumption that hamberguese always meant beef burger. The server had assumed we wanted pollo (chicken) or the shop was out of carne (beef) and simply made the substitution. Clara was a trooper and had half a burger. I had the other half, Julian had all of his and Jillian was there for moral support

By the end of our burger adventure, I was suddenly hit by a wave of exhaustion. Julian took the girls for a second stage of their dinner while I went back to the hostel. I wrote a list of clothes to wear, and things to pack for Machu Picchu, and rested in the lounge, hoping that an early bedtime would cure what ailed me. (I understand that the girls were successful in getting an actual beef burger for Clara, soup for Jill which was eaten by Julian, and a menu tipico – typical Peruvian dish of chicken, rice and vegetable- for Julian which was eaten by Jill! A topsy-turvy night of cuisine indeed.)

The diners were greeted by my hiking boots stuffed with the lists of things to wear and pack, and a tired Mama who made a beeline for her bunk. It was an early night for me and for the girls. Julian stayed up a while longer to get us all packed up, and ready for our extremely early start to a long day. TheBigDay.

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The alarm went off at 4am, and was heard by all. The female contingent had slept in their touring clothes so all we had to do was put on our hiking boots, fill Mama’s water bottle and head out the door. Julian had the extra step of switching his pajamas for clothes, but that did not slow him down any. Due to Julian’s excellent preparations, based on my equally excellent lists, we were out the door within 16 minutes!

We made use of our headlamps (flashlights on a headband for hands-free use) during our 20 minute walk to the station. Julian then broke out the camera and walked onto the tracks! He wasn’t alone in this endeavor, though, and he definitely moved before the train did. After a brief wait, our tickets were checked a second time and we were sent to car “A”. It had plush seats in quad formation around a small table. It looked much more comfortable than the other cars! We weren’t sure if we had just gotten lucky, until Julian noted that the other cars had a different “label” – servico. We realised it was the class available only to locals, at a cheaper rate than our “Expedition class”.

The train trip was relatively uneventful. I was going to type “it was smooth but that’s far from the truth — it was actually the opposite of smooth, literally. We were jostled back and forth in our seats for the entire ride (just about 2 hours).  Unfortunately this meant none of us got much sleep! I did have some of my breakfast sandwiches which the hostel kindly provided for our early departure.

Our debarkation at Agua Calientes was a quick process. We followed the posted signs for “ticket office – Machu Picchu – and found ourselves at the Culrural Centre in short order. Julian produced the necessary cash, in exact change in Soles, and our passports, and procured our tickets. (There wasn’t any line up). We also asked about bus tickets, and were directed back towards the train debarkation area. So, back we went! A few minutes later we got our bus tickets (paid in US funds as noted earlier). Another trip to the Cultural Centre afforded us an opportunity to use the washroom. Luckily travel tissues had been on our packing list! (There was no toilet paper in any of the stalls in either washroom). Another walk from the Centre to the debarkation area and a bit further, and we were at the buses.   There wasn’t any wait for a bus. They seemed to be continually loading and unloading, with no shortage of passengers to fill seats, but also no shortabe of buses for those passengers! The ride was apparently 25 minutes, although the girls and I didn’t notice the time since we were asleep for all of it! I think Julian slept on the bus too.

Finally, at 7:40am local time, we were off the bus, in Machu Picchu and had procured a guide for our family.

For those who are interested int he costs, the tour guide asked for 120Soles, and we didn’t bother to barter, we thought it was a fair price – and understandable that the country’s largest tourist attraction would have a more expensive tour than the one in the ruins at Ollantaytambo.  Another traveller joined us, and our group of 6 set out admist the rain, fog and mist to begin our tour. Once again, our early start was rewarded with a tour of ruins with relatively few tourists. The ruins at Machu Picchu are astounding. Julian could not help but proclaim “Wow!” at every turn. I , too, was impressed by the size and scope of the city – especially when we were told that the ruins are estimated to be only about 15% of the actual city.  The girls were a bit more interested in the flora and fuana of the place than the architecture and historical facts (as you might have already guessed from the post “For Seb”!).

By the end of our tour, the sun was starting to break through the mist. We had a breakfast of jam sandwiches, cheese sandwiches, Girl Guide cookies and Do-si-do Girl Scout cookies which felt like a lunch, since we’d been up so long! Then we climbed to the top of the tiered agricultural area, and started on the path to the Sun Gate. It looked deceptively easy at the beginning, just a walk on some very old stones.  Quickly it turned into a ‘real’ hike, upwards. It was a bit of an ordeal for all of us, being so tired and suddenly finding ourselves in bright, direct sunlight after our misty, rainy morning. But, we made it. (Julian will hopefully insert some of his great photos here on a later edit.)

We enjoyed a break in the shade of the stones of the ‘gate’ structure.  Julian even broke out his surprise- chocolate for a snack! We were in much better spirits on the way down.  In fact, Clara and Jillian took on the task, if Julian’s help, of counting all the steps between the Sun Gate and Machu Picchu itself! They found out it was 2100 steps. They also (possibly? probably?) discouvered some Inkan secrets, but I’ll leave the telling of those stories to the girls! Spending nearly five hours on our feet at the ruins left us in need of refreshment and a rest. Luckily there was a snack bar right at the exit, with a Zumex orange juicer and a soft serve ice cream machine. Tourist prices be damned, we ordered two juices and two ice creams.  And they were delicious!   At this point, I was Done-with-a-capital-D. So, I took refuge with tablet in hand, in the bus shelter (the only place with shade and seating which didn’t require further purchases). Off to the ruins for photography went Jillian, Clara, Julian and my watch. (More on that in another post…the watch issue.)

Thirty five minutes later, they returned, all smiles! They had captured more photos of llamas and ruins, and were ready for a meal and a rest and the train ride home.   The bus ride down seemed a lot longer than the way up, since we were all awake. But it was also a lot more beautiful, having direct sunlight to illuminate the views all around.

Dinner in Agua Calientes was another of our opportunities for learning. We ought to have (a) reviewed the menu with the whole family before committing to the dinner and (b) not expected the girls to behave with “restaurant manners” after such a long day and on such little sleep!  In the end, Julian and I ate the over-priced, average to good food, and had some leftovers packed up to go. The upside was that we were treated to a most unusual theme in the restaurant, one we hadn’t seen before: Peruvian-French pirate!  Honestly, the photos will tell the tale.

It was a good thing we gave ourselves time between dinner and the train.  We had a brief moment of confusion and concern when our train wasn’t listed on the board at the train station where we’d gotten off! It turned out that the departures are on the other side of the downtown…and that the passengers must weave their way through a very large market of souvenir and handicraft stalls to get there!

The girls had their first experiences of being tourists at a souvenir market. They did very well! Jillian bought a small llama made of carved stone of some kind, and also picked out our souvenir magnet – a lovely brightly coloured llama.  Clara remembered that there was a tshirt at the train station in Ollantaytambo she wanted, and we confirmed that the prices were much higher at Machu Picchu.   The train ride home was punctuated with the carousings of male  Australian backpackers doing their best to charm some female American bakcpackers. They were unfortunately a lesson in what not to do when travelling – loud, demanding, rowdy, rude (they brought their own cans of beer on the train and drank them openly despite the train having a bar service.). They were also messy – they left their half crushed cans and other garbage on their tables when we got to the station. I am sure there are other Australian travellers who are respectful and wonderful to share a train with, but they weren’t in our car.

At the end of the train ride, we made our way home through the crowd of taxi drivers and travel reps, down the road, and out to Casa de Wow!!  The girls watched The Lord o f Rings extended edition – cast commentary – extended extras. I crashed on a bottom bunk, oblivious to the Tolkien fandom going on…..