Mark And Ann's Journal

What a big day.  We left the hotel at 8:00am and returned after 11:00pm.  We had a 2 hour bus trip to get to the other side of the worst of the mudslides which were still unrepaired.  These people have literally moved mountains to get this train operational in the 8 weeks since the disaster hit.  There have been mudslides all along the track where it follows the river.  There are still many men working in the area and as I mentioned previously this is to the detriment of their homes that have been washed away leaving the family in tents.  Because the houses are mostly made of mud they have completely disolved in places leaving only beams where rooves once stood.  One of the things we hadn´t planned on was that Macchu Picchu is situated in a tropical rainforest type area.  The countryside is beautiful and the getting there was a wonderful and unexpected delight.  The road in is quite scarey in places as the road where ithasn´t been rebuilt hangs precariously close to the still raging river.  We transfered at Agua Calientes (meaning hot water) to the Inca Rail train.  This was 5 star complete with hot drinks and snacks.  What a ride!  We are sure there was absolutely no ground under us several times.  We saw where the track is still completely missing on the but. On the train we saw the mangled rail that had been washed away and the valiant efforts to rebuild the passage.  Let´s just say it would never, never stand up to Australian safety standards.  The idea was just to go slower over the dodgey bits.  WAH!  We made it safely to the other end however and just hoped it held together to get us back again.  Once in Agua Callientes we had to catch another bus up to the most spectacular site I have ever seen.  Through rainforest and up gigantic mountains that were dwarfed by even bigger mountains was breathtaking, exciting, overwhelming really.  We entered the site and our guide immediately led us up a mountain´s worth of stairs to THE picture site of Macchu Picchu - you have all seen it.  WE WERE THERE!!!  It makes you feel really small, I can tell you.  We were all dumbstruck as we looked around at the incredible beauty.  Then it was action to get photos.  The place is beyond words.  I know I have said this before but if I tell you we took nearly 300 photos in one day you may start to realise how incredibly we felt.  We wanted to capture everything, see everything, feel EVERYTHING.  This even included up close and personal with a few llamas.  They are much better viewed at a distance - phew!  We had nearly 4 hours to wander the ruins with our guide who was,as all the guides have been, very knowledgable.  Again to help you understand the impact of the place, everytime I think about what we have seen I am stuck by tears.  We stood in ancient temples, on the edge of cliffs 1 km high or more, 2491metres above sea level.  We crawled through a cave where once mummies exhisted for up to 500 years and stood where once the rulers of the city once stood to preach to their people.  Up,down, under and through it was all wonderful and mind blowing.  we managed to get a stamp in our passports then headed back to Agua Callientes in a strangly mixed state of elation and peacefulness so that there was mad chatter followed by silences.  We had a couple of beers in Cate´s bar before boarding the train for our return to Cusco.  We said our last good-byes to the Sacred Valley and sat quietly with our thoughts on the events of the day.  YAHOOOOO!!!!!