Machu Picchu 2002

Up at 4:00 Am again to get the 6:00 Am train to Machu Picchu.

It is about a 3 ½ hour train ride, then a 30 minute bus ride. We

have to go thru switch backs for several miles as we rise about

300 meters. Then we start descending.

After about 1 ½ to 2 hours we enter the Sacred Valley & the

scenery thru it is very beautiful. I try to get a few photographs

but it is difficult with the train moving and windows up.

I am writing this now as we are sitting on the railroad track

about 3 ½ miles from our destination because a truck fell off a

bridge On to the track & damaged it. We hope it will be repaired

in an hour. I don’t know how they can do it that quickly. Of course I

don’t know how long ago this happened & how long they’ve been

working on it. Of course we’re all disappointed & wondering how

it will affect the rest of the day.

But everyone is taking it in stride. Well, it seems Foster

misunderstood. It was rock on the rail & indeed when the rock

was removed, they found the rail damaged. A new rail was sent

up a short while ago & we are now reboarding & hope to be

on our way soon. It has been over 1 ½ hours. We are hoping

to have our scheduled time at MP which means everything

is moved back about 2 hours. We are looking at another short

night.

Well, the rain gods greeted us at MP. We had lunch at the train

station restaurant and had a 30 minute bus ride up to MP. The

weather was nice at that time & so I checked a lot of my

belongings including the sleeves of my jacket. After only a few

minutes the Rain started. At first it would come & go. Finally

it set in for good.

MP was very interesting & fun to see, but I left there soaking wet.

I’m glad we went, but hope to go again for a longer time-to both

MP & Cuzco, which gets shoved into the background but has a

lot of interesting things to see.

The road to MP is zigzag & on the way down, we’re accompanied

by a young boy dressed as an Andean runner (messenger). He would

run between the zigzags & greet us as we turned corners (hairpin

curves). He met us at the bottom & jumped on the bus for his tip.

There are several of these boys who follow the buses. I don’t know

how many trips thay make a day, but these young boys probably

make a good salary for their family.

We left the train early for the buses and saved about an hour on

the return trip arriving about 8:00 PM.