and off to Machu Picchu!!!

I went to Machu Picchu today. It was worth the 10 hours' roundtrip, and even that was not too bad!

I got on Peru Rail at 7am in the town of Cusco, Peru. Apparently, heavy rains washed out most of the rail in Peru, so the first part of the journey was actually in a little coach. We drove through the Sacred Inca Valley (for which I have a tour tomorrow), seeing llamas, cows, pigs, dgs etc. In fact, there were even autorickshaws, which one of my coachmates told me are importaed from India!!

At Aguas Calientes, we boarded the actual train. It is the prettiest journey alongside a river.

When we got to Machu Picchu station, we met with a tour guide, boarded a bus (after crossing trhough the bustling Machu Picchu village), drove 20 minutes to Machu Picchu itself!!!!

This was the first time since coming to Peru that nobody came up to sell me anything!

Our guide, Mario, was fabulous. I was ecstatic to see chincilla and orchids, which people pay so much for in Manhattan and other such places, growing wild and free on the grounds.

I played with llama and alpaca -- one baby llama even came bounding down the stone steps to see me.

An awesome day!