Train to Aguas Calientes, Peru Day 4 December 13
We're up at 5 a.m. today, breakfast at 6 a.m. lobby call at 6:45 a.m.. We're taking the Peru Rail to the end of the line-Aguas Calientes.
Breakfast at Villa Urubamba Lodge is delicious: meats, cheeses, bread and coffee. Our van takes us to the Ollanta train station. Our train leaves at 7:45 a.m.. We're in "first class", car A seats 45 and 47. One of our group members, Linda, meets her Inka Trail guide on the train. They'll be hiking into Machu Picchu (the rest of our group be taking a bus on Friday, we'll see Linda later tonight.)
The train travels through the spectacular Urubamba Valley. We can see glaciers, mountains, waterfalls and some Inka Ruins.
As we rumble towards Aguas Calientes, the terrain is changing and our elevation is decreasing. The eucalyptus trees are replaced by palm trees.
Linda and her guide get off at the bridge to begin their hike. We travel a bit further to the end of the line.
We cross one of the bridges that take you from the locals' side of the river to the tourist side of the river. Cho-Cho tells us the best prices are found on the local side (I think Emma took advantage of this information!)
We arrive at our hotel, Hotel Taypikala Machupicchu but our rooms are not ready yet so Cho-Cho takes us on a city tour to get acquainted with the town. Jay and I will be in Room 104.
He points out a great spot for us to have lunch or dinner at: Indio Feliz
We visit the square where folks can meet up with guides to take them to Machu Picchu and many spots for photo ops.
We take a swing through the farmer's market and taste some very exocitc local fruits.
We walk further down the dirt road and get a small glimpse of Machu Picchu, high above Aguas Calientes.
The skies are getting a little gray as Cho-Cho leaves us at the Butterfly Farm. He heads back to the hotel to catch up on some computer work for G Adventures.
Jason, Emma, Ricky , Jay and I pay our 22 soles, sign the guestbook and tour the small butterfly rescue facility. (I took photos but had a transfer issue so no butterfly pics :-( )
We walk further on down the road to the bridge to visit the botanical gardens. The gardens are part of the MANUEL CHÁVEZ BALLÓN MUSEUM. After some bargaining we get a group rate, sort of (22 soles pp to 18 soles pp) for the five of us and tour the museum then the gardens. The museum has a few items from Hiram Bingham's 1911 exploration. The garden has a great collection of orchids.
We're hot, tired, hungry and thirsty so we walk back to town and enjoy a lovely lunch at Indio Feliz. They have THE BEST mixed fruit drinks (mixto)
Emma and Jason and the mixtos!
We make the LONG climb back up to our hotel
Jay and I take a long siesta and wake in time for our group meeting in the lobby for 7 p.m.. Linda reports that she had a great time on the Inka Trail and took some great photos. We talk about our breakfast Friday morning, lobby call and bus schedule for our next adventure-MACHU PICCHU.
Lights out at 8:15 p.m.
More photos: https://photosbynanci.smugmug.com/Peru-2018/Ollantaytambo-to-Aguas-Calientes/
Next up: Machu Picchu and we're all buzzing with excitement with fingers crossed for good weather. It is rainy season after all....