|
|
| Two pictures taken just before six in the morning, on our way back from early breakfast. At right, Mark enters our hobbit-house casita. | |
Wednesday, April 22, ninth day in Perú
Ollantaytambo, Aguas Calientes, and Machu Picchu
We got an early start this day, to catch an early train. My journal explains: «Up at five, in order to be met at seven by Rubén and Romulo, to make an 8:20 train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes, the jumping-off place for the bus up the edge of the mountain to Machu Picchu.
From the train, the rushing waters of the Vilcanota (10 sec.)
«By the time we stepped aboard the train, Mark and I agreed that we had seen our fill of close-fitting Inca stones. But as the train ride unfolded, we agreed that this alone was worth the two more days in the Peruvian highlands.
«The train goes along the Vilcanota, a tributary of (of course) the Amazon, and as it goes along, you get views of the astonishing steep and jagged peaks rising above you. It was very exciting.
«The trip takes an hour and a half, and deposits us at the town of Aguas Calientes, where we will be staying overnight in the Inka Terra Hotel.
«We got onto our bus, Mark and Rubén and I, and rode to the top, on the Hiram Bingham Highway, named for the Yankee academic and politician who came here in 1911 and publicized the “discovery” of Machu Picchu via the National Geographic. He may or may not have been the model for Indiana Jones, but it is indisputable that he plundered the place for mummies, ceramics, and other artifacts.
«Up top, it looked like the entrance to Disneyland. There were hordes of tourists. [ In fact, Machu Picchu is the biggest tourist attraction in South America. ] But the place is spectacular, both for its extensiveness and for its magnificent setting. As Rubén remarked, you can get an excellent photograph standing anywhere up there at Machu Picchu. And we did take lots of pictures. But it started to rain, and I put the camera into its ziploc bag and switched over to the iPhone.
«Rubén cut the visit to M.P. short after a while, but not until we got up to what seems to be a sundial, way up top. There were higher points within the whole precinct, but this was definitely a local maximum.
Photos taken from Machu Picchu, looking down:
«From there we walked down and out [ of the park, within which our tickets were good ] to a restaurant that had just received 200 participants in a cruise, and would not seat us. But we had reservations! We had reservations! One way or another, Rubén came to an arrangement with the restaurant management by which we could go through the buffet line and walk our filled plates over to another restaurant of the same hotel, just across the hotel’s entryway. This worked out very nicely, since we found ourselves in a much less noisy dining room than the one the cruisers were in.»
As for the photos, in the block above, in the top right, you see Mark photographing Wayna Picchu, a very tall, steep mountain with lots of temples and other ruins. It would have been too demanding for the geezer, and since Mark is subject to vertigo, it was out of the question for him as well. It managed to show up in very many of my pictures. In particular, in the block of pictures below, the last one shows, in its closeup view, the climbers toiling up the edge of the mountain, for the purpose, I’m sure, of gaining the favor of the sun god.
My journal continues: «From there [i.e. the luncheon restaurant], back onto a bus, to return to Aguas Calientes, where Rubén led us to our hotel and made his partings.» Our hotel, the Inkaterra Machu Picchu, is one of a small chain in Peru, and was very elegant. For some reason, I have no pictures taken in our room, but Mark has lots on his page. On the other hand, I took a number of pictures in the public area of the hotel, as you can see on either side here.
My journal describes the rest of the day well: «The dinner at the Inka terra was superb. For appetizer, I had smoked trout on a base of bland, and it was excellent. Main course was wild mushroom risotto, and it was wonderful, though I could not finish the rice. Dessert was passionfruit ice cream with a bit of chocolate sauce drizzled over. Excellent all around.
«Melissa and Steve were at a nearby table, and we chatted with them a couple of times. We expected not to see them again, so the parting was particularly hearty.»
Then to bed, to sleep relatively well, in preparation for the next day.