Wednesday 20 January

Machu Picchu to Cusco

Although our Hotel was located between the railway line and the road and river, we only heard the river and that noise wasn’t that loud. Due to the rain yesterday, both here and further up the valley, the river had swollen considerably and was rushing even more. There is quite a drop in elevation from one end of town to the other, the water rushing downhill at a great rate of knots. It was really chocolate milkshake!

This morning was our own, so we had a leisurely breakfast, after which Lesley worked on the Blog and then we went for a walk around the town before meeting up with the rest of the group to catch the train back to Ollantaytambo. 

During our walk Lesley purchased a necklace with the Inca symbol – an Incan cross. As mentioned yesterday, the railway runs through the middle of town and Stuart decided the railway line was the easiest place to walk (having to get around some construction work). Not long after moving back onto the footpath, a couple of locomotives came down the line. 

We also met another Australian pair, two ladies our age or probably older, who come from Runnaway Bay on the Gold Coast not far from us! They had decided to walk the Inca Trail – three days-four nights. They regretted it as it was hard going, and they both had sore legs. All we could think of was ‘Hell-ooo…..what did you expect?’, but we didn’t say so. The mountains here are NOT gentle slopes but seriously steep. I’m not surprised they found it hard!

On the train trip back to Ollantaytambo the carriage crew gave a pantomime display (dancer in very bright costume with an animal mask) and a fashion show of beautiful alpaca knits, male (jumpers ad jackets) and female (various poncho/capes, extremely versatile). Each time the male came out to parade down the carriage, he got lots of calls and whistles, but he took it in his stride and just gave a small smile. His two colleagues, who were not involved, laughed.

After arriving at Ollantaytambo, we transferred to Mercedes “Sprinter’ buses for the 2 hour ride to Cusco. Our hotel “Palacio del Inka” in Cusco was once an Inca palace. A lot of the original stonework is visible on the ground floor, inside and out.