Machu Picchu, Peru - day 1 - 2011

Vistadome train to Machu Picchu and tour

Luckily, Greg was feeling better by lunch yesterday, though he still was a bit worn out. We said it was better that he was sick yesterday since missing Machu Picchu would have been terrible.  It hit us both a tiny bit while on the cruise, but resting between excursions helped. It seemed to come and go a bit even after we returned home. 

The hotel had Alpaca that they let roam free on the grounds. Great photo ops.

We were up early to catch the Vistadome train to the town of Aguas Calientes to catch our bus to Machu Picchu. There were beautiful views from the train and a decent meal was served. We checked into the Sanctuary Hotel for the night. It’s the only hotel actually right at Machu Picchu, the rest are down the hill in Aguas Calientes. It’s a 5 star Orient Express property and the food and service were amazing. It was one of the reasons I booked through an agency instead of booking the tours and transportation on our own. They could book just one night and as an individual I only had the option to book 2 nights. (overkill at their rates and we really didn't need any more time to see everything)

We had a guided tour set up with Braulio and we spent a couple of hours with him learning all about MP. The place is breath taking. Llamas were all over and there were a couple of babies. One was just a couple days old. Sooooo cute! Braulio also had the style of showing us photos in his book as he talked. Uh, the real thing was right there....couldn't we just look at that? It did give us a good overview and it helped when we went back to explore on our own.

We had the buffet lunch at the Sanctuary which was wonderful and then headed out to explore the ruins on our own. We climbed high and low until they closed as it started to get dark. We had a nice shower and dressed for dinner which was a lovely multi-course dinner with musicians entertaining.

Cusco is at an altitude of 3400m (11,154ft) so heading to Pisac or Urubamba at 2,900m (9,514ft) or Machu Picchu at 2,400m (7,874ft) can make a huge difference. After a few days you can then make your way back up to Cusco and will feel a lot better to tour that area. That was the main reason we didn't do the tour with the cruise. They take you directly to Cusco and tour as soon as you get off the plane. Plus, you only have about half a day to explore MP and then you go back to Cusco to fly home. So, no time to adjust to the altitude or enough time at MP or to see any of the rest of the area. We didn't have any issue with the altitude. 

I will warn you in advance I have included way too many photos of alpacas & llamas (your welcome....) and tons of photos of MP. 

Greg and the alpaca having a chat

walking to the train station

Greg walking to the train

views from the train 

ducks

part of the lunch

Urubamba River

arrival in Aguas Calientes

waiting for the bus to Machu Picchu

Braulio our guide

Chinchilla (very far away)

Royal Tomb

entrance to the Temple

Rufous-collared Sparrow

bedroom

2 day old llama nursing - I like the one in the lower left that photo bombed the shot

Sacred Rock (point of energy)

switchbacks on the trail up the mountain

our room

view from our window

touring on our own after lunch - and now that the day-trippers have gone it's much less crowded

the train taking people back to Aguas Callientes

me taking in the view

Rufous-collared Sparrow

day workers leaving for the night

the hotel

appetizer

musicians played while we ate

reception

entrance to restaurant

turn down service - I had forgotten my camera that I wanted to take to dinner and walked in on the butler going through our clothes. I thought that was odd until we returned after dinner and he had laid out our clothes and folded our socks

Tomorrow we are up before dawn to get in line for tickets to climb Hyuna Picchu. 

Machu Picchu Day 1 & Vistadome train https://photos.app.goo.gl/KA7rTy13GspXqkT98