We started today with great anticipation. It was the day we had been waiting for, and the day you, fair reader, have been waiting for as well, even if you did not know it. (That’s a whole lotta commas, and I am too tired to look at it again and determine if it is grammatically correct. Please, forgive me.) What wondrous day was this? Today is the day that thetwinsontour were going to set eyes on one of the marvels of the world: that’s right, folks. We were headed to kohls! Ha ha. Nope, we were voyaging to the great Peruvian archeological- wonder: MACHU PICHU! !!! Hip hip hooray! A life-long goal realized!
So, the day started out with a train ride to get to the base of the Machu Pichu mountain. But this wasn’t just any train- this was the VISTATRAIN. Sounds exciting, huh? The train had skylight windows, so that your view as you meandered through the wilds of Peru would not be obscured. It was a great view. Saw some cows, sheep, and pigs, but no llamas. We even passed through a cloud forest, but I didn’t see any clouds. We had read horrible reviews about this nauseating ride, so we were prepared to be bounced about like rag dolls. I am happy to report that thetwinsontour were well prepared and came through unscathed. (Proof once again that you can’t trust grumpy TripAdvisor reviews.) I know you were worried about our tendency towards motion sickness. We were well prepared with our double dose of Dramamine (don’t you love alliteration?) and also branched out to try the motion sickness bracelets we bought like 3 years ago.
Our train took us from a small town in The Sacred Valley (don’t ask me to spell it or pronounce it) to Aguas Calientes. Then from Aguas Calientes you take a bus up the mountain to Machu Picchu. It is a really well-maintained, narrow, dirt and gravel road with tons of switchbacks all the way up the mountain, but the switchbacks are paved with brick. It is a bumpy ride. Maybe the buses need better shocks? During the 25 minute ride up the treacherous windy mountain road the pedometer on my new Garmin Vivofit went up by over 1,100 steps while I was sitting! That’s what I call free exercise. And everyone knows how thetwinsontour love free stuff! If I “walk” all those extra steps I deserve 2 desserts, right? As a side note, If you want to actually earn 12 desserts when you come to Machu Picchu, you could take the 1,700 stone steps straight up the mountain. That doesn’t sound the least bit entertaining to me, but we did see crazy people doing it from the bus window. Or maybe they were just too cheap to buy the bus ticket. Supposedly it only takes an hour or so.
Back to the exciting part: Machu Picchu! It really was amazing to walk among the ruins. I’m sure I probably learned a lot of fascinating facts, but I was too busy taking pictures from every angle to concentrate on that. I know it has withstood flooding and mudslides due to the excellent drainage. Something about some clay and sand that came all the way from the beach in Lima. There were people just swarming everywhere on Machu Picchu, but again, it is really clean and well kept. Our guide was picking up bits of litter he found along the way.
I think you are not supposed to eat within the grounds because we checked our lunches at the baggage check and then went out after a couple of hours to enjoy our lunches. We had a cheese empanada purchased from a cafe at the bottom of the mountain, baby bananas from the market, and some plantain chips. I am not mentioning the lunch for my mother’s sake, but rather so I can tell you about the aforementioned baby bananas. We got them in the market where the lady had a huge branch of bananas and she cut them right off the branch for us. We got 2 of them for 1 sol which is about 30cents. Now they were a little brown on the outside and not up to our normal banana qualifications, but we were brave and tried them anyways. And what a tasty treat! Do you want to know more about this banana? Well I’m going to tell you anyway. It was actually orange, not white. Sort of a pale orange-sherbet color and a softer, but not mushy, texture. What a treat for someone from a land of blah bananas. Eating an orange banana makes you wonder how many varieties of bananas they have in the land of 7,000 potatoes and over 100 corns. What other banana wonders lurk out there waiting to be discovered by thetwinsontour?
After the banana surprise, we went back to explore the glorious Inca Ruins some more, and to take a lot more selfies. The ruins are magnificent, but do you know what makes them even better? LLAMAS! There are maybe a dozen llamas there at Machu Picchu, and while I haven’t counted, I probably have 487 Llama pictures. How fantastic is that to get a picture of a llama with Incan ruins in the background?! This is why you come to Peru people! Llamas I say! They are not actually wild llamas, the park service takes care of them and brings them in at night so that the foxes don’t eat the baby llamas in the middle of the night. I don’t know exactly where they take them though because I didn’t see any out buildings or employee only areas. As a matter of fact, they don’t have any toilets, excessive safety railings, or any trash cans within the grounds. But there are lots of uneven stone steps, tons of tourists, breathtaking vistas, and a few random chinchillas.
Machu Pichu did not disappoint. It was a great day. We finished it off with the Peruvian National Drink: Pisco Sours. They are divine even if the secret ingredient is egg white. I guess the alcohol kills any potential salmonella in the egg whites?
Well, that is enough excitement for one day. Time to prepare for our next installment of thetwinsontourinperu.
Hasta la vista,
Thetwinsontour
thetwinsontour 