It is finally the day that we begin our journey to Machupicchu. I feel like I have waited so long for this moment to come, and now that it is here, I do not think I can hide my excitement. I walked briskly to the ProWorld office while trying to imagine what today will bring.
Our first destination was Ollantaytambo. It is a little city nestled in the valley between some pretty impressive mountains. We entered the archeological site and began to climb towards the top of the ruins there, but they were quite high. There were a lot of stairs and many of us had to stop a couple of times to be sure we made it to the top. Funny thing is our tour guide, Evelyn, told us that this would just be a little warm up for tomorrow and Machupicchu...really? If so, I am not sure how we will make it through alive! We were able to see a structure built into the side of a mountain where they would store food. In this way, the Inca were very advanced. We learned about how there was another tribe of people that were more vicious and stronger than the Inca as they were growing in power, but the other tribe could not support a vast empire because they did not conserve food or supplies as well as the Inca did. Our guide told us that if they had, we would not be talking about the Inca, it would all be about the other tribe.
After descending the ruins, it was time for lunch. It became a little more complicated as we entered the restaurant because we were arriving there at 12:30 pm and our train was supposed to leave the station towards Aguas Calientes and Machupicchu at 12:58 pm. When the food came out, we were told that we only had 5 minutes to eat our food, and if we did not finish that we could take it with us in a to-go box. Believe me when I say that I ate my entire meal (steak in mushroom sauce, french fries, and vegetables) all within the allotted 5 minutes! Luckily, we were able to get some chocolate and orange cake for the train ride on PeruRail. The train we took was so nice! The seats were grouped in 4 around a table which provided a nice, social atmosphere on the way to Aguas Calientes. Also, the train had skylights so as we were cruising on the tracks, we could look out the top and see the mountains and some glaciers along the way.
The hotel we stayed in "The President Hotel" in Aguas Calientes was fantastic! I, being the only male on the trip, got my own room and I was happy to find out that each room came with DIRECTV! I quickly flipped on the television to discover some of the channels that I was able to view, and luckily there were a lot of sports channels. I had a little while until dinner so, I turned on the television and watched a behind-the-scences documentary about the World Cup Final last year in South Africa. It was truly interesting to see all of the work that goes on not only before the game, but also during and after. An hour or more had passed and it was getting closer to dinner, so I went down to the lobby and watched some UFC while getting on the Internet to talk to Amy.
The restaurant we ate at was literally a 30 second walk from the hotel, which was good because we were all starving. While looking at the menu, I decided to get "condor wings" (aka chicken wings in barbecue sauce) and a ham and cheese pizza. Both of those options were superb, but I wish that the barbecue sauce had just a little more flavor to it on the wings.
The rest of the night was not super eventful. We returned to the hotel, and I watched "Final Destination" on TV in Spanish and got on the Internet to tell Amy goodnight. Then, I went to my room where I watched the rest of "Parks and Rec" and "Saturday Night Live feat. Jim Carey" on NBC. As I turned it off to go to bed, I knew that in less than 6 hours, I was going to be on my way to Machupicchu. I knew that in less than 6 hours, my life would be forever changed by a place that was both beautiful and mysterious. I couldn't wait.
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