March 4-5, 2022
For a lot of us, the goal of our Peru trip was to see Machu Picchu. We'd already seen a lot of Peru, and we would spend the next two days at the famous site. We took a van from Cusco to Ollantaytambo, and then a train to Aguas Calientes along the Urubamba River. The river was roaring, and the trip was really interesting.
After checking out the town a bit, we headed up to Machu Picchu via a bus ride. We were all so excited! The weather was good, and we were high in the Andes Mountains. We couldn't get enough. We had a guide who explained a lot about the site.
The second day we spent at Machu Picchu was without a guide. In a way, we liked the second day better because we explored everything at our own pace. We all took a bus up, and then Zoe wanted to walk down via the old steps. Margot decided to join her, so they did the long trek down together. The weather was perfect, and a dog was with us for a while. It was almost like he was watching over us, checking in on us whenever we stumbled.
Once we got to the bottom after about a mile of steps, we had to walk another half-mile or so into town. We were exhausted by the end of it, but it was worth every second.
That second day of Machu Picchu happened quickly because we had a train to catch in the middle of the afternoon. We made it on time, and it was a weird train trip. There was dancing, singing, and costumes the whole way, with good food. Then we took a very long van ride back to Cusco from Ollantaytambo. We saw a bit of Cusco that evening, and then we were off to get some sleep.
It was a very busy part of our trip, but it was worth all of the travel time. Machu Picchu is truly special, a "bucket list" destination that we felt lucky to have experienced. Next, we were off to spend time in the Amazon!
