Finally, we arrived in Cusco at 6:30 in the morning with a back and neck pain...The altitude had struck me this time, I had not slept well either, so coca tea was my cure!!! My backpack came out from the bus the latest so I was very pissed off!!! As soon as we jumped out of the bus in Cusco, taxi drivers surrounded us. I was not in a good mood, got the taxi for 5 soles (with a frowning face!!!). The cab driver tried to sell us hotel, tours etc..We just ignored him, in this case being a tourism person helps!!!
Our hotel was on a steep hill, it´s called "Samay Wasi"...The people had a very warm greeting, got us a room by the time the room was ready and gave us coca tea to relax and to get rid of the "sorroche"(altitude sickness). Though at some point, I liked it, it is a little like being drunk, except for the trouble in respiration...We decided to prepare our little backpack to spend the night at Aguas Calientes which is the closest town to Machu Picchu and take the famous Machu Picchu train from Ollantantaybo in the afternoon. We had listened lots of stories from the other gringos like the long lines at the train station, problems for buying entrances etc...Therefore, we were a little uneasy to get a train ticket and entrance tickets to Machu Picchu. We decided to take our chance, prepared our overnite backpacks and hit the road towards the San Pedro Train Station.
Cusco is a colorful city, has many squares and different markets. The first thing we did was to go to the station to ask for the tickets. We actually were waiting a long line and other gringos queued up to get train tickets but there was nobody else!!! We could not believe that but we got the return tickets to/from Ollaytantaybo to Aguas Calientes for 77 USD! Relieved and relaxed, we had a good breakfast and had some coca tea at a small cafe and jumped on a minibus to Urubamba to get to Ollaytantambo...
It was a nice trip, took 1 hour 40 mins and we changed to a small minibus at Urubamba. At Ollaytantambo, Piril got a little disappointed because there was just a little tiny square and some ruins, that was it!!! We found some salad at a little cafe. The village definitely had more dog population than human!!! They were everywhere, barking and peeing all around, well the men here are not any different though...We took our train, there were maybe 20 people on the train, no more!!! We were even offered a sandwich and juice on the train, which was another surprise..The train passed from beautiful green areas,
I tried to take some pics...It was such an amazing nature but all of a sudden, it started raining cats and dogs!!! As soon as we arrived in Aguas Calientes, a boy approached us and offered a hotel room with cable TV and private bath for 50 soles. We followed him and found out that the TV was local. After some hard bargaining (Piril is the absolute bargainer!!!), we got the room for 40 soles...
After dropping our bag, we went to buy our Machu Picchu ticket and the bus to go up to the Machu Picchu Sanctuary. It was raining like crazy, we looked around the handicraft market, got some small souvenirs and had grilled alpaca at a restaurant. It tastes like chicken and meat together, but nice!!! We went to bed early tonite ...The next morning,
we woke up at 5 and caught the first bus climbing up to the Machu Picchu. We were there at 6 am!!! As soon as we got there, we met Iswet and some people quietly having breakfast. Iswet was a certified tour guide and the guys having breakfast were the Colombian motorcyclists who were traveling the continent on the bike!!! Could you imagine how happy I could be, I was at Machu Picchu and touring with bikers!!!
It was a dream and I liked every minute of it...We dealt with Iswed for 10 soles per head for the 3 hour tour. She told us about the Inka People, how the place was found by Hiram Birgham in 1911 and the customs/traditions of the Inka people...It was so peaceful and one could easily feel the super high energy at the terraces of the hidden city...Our new friends were all friends and relatives, traveling 10 guys and 2 girls on Suzuki Freewind and Honda Transalp .
They asked my opinion and I of course voted for Honda as a Honda owner! After our tour finished, Iswed offered us to have breakfast at the restaurant of the workers. Our handsome and friendly Colombian friends decided to go to Huayna Picchu which was much higher and offered some great views of Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu means the youth mountain and the actual summit is more than 3000 mts.
While they left for Huayna Picchu, we followed Iswed to have huevos con arroz(eggs with rice) at 10:30 am! She was 26, guiding for 7 years , married with a 22 month old baby girl,Libertad. We decided to buy a bus tour to Puno and a city tour of Cusco from her as she was very nice...We had a deal for the bus and city tour for 110 soles and for Puno tour, hostel, Copacabana Isla del Sol excursion and bus ticket to La Paz for 72 USD..After the deal, we went back to Aguas
Calientes, took our train back to Ollaytantambo and took the minibus for Urubamba. We took a minibus from Urubamba but the minibus we took did not follow the same route as the previous one,it went through unpaved village roads and collected everyone on the road...It took almost 2,5 hours for us to come back to Cusco. We just took a taxi back home and crashed... We were sooo tired but we were happy as we had done the most important part of our
tour and had become pilgrims of Machu Picchu!!!The next day, we woke up early, enjoyed the beautiful handicraft market which moved to Plaza de Armas just for Xmas, had coffee and returned back home for our city tour. We had a city tour which covered some Inca Sites and a cathedral in the city. It was a nice tour, we met an Indian couple living in Santiago,Chile and decided to meet up one day for coffee or a drink...After our tour has finished, we went to eat at Jack's, which is a friend of Ricardo, the owner of Honda Transalp and the salad there was pretty good... We had a quiet Xmas nite and went to bed early to start the day at 6:30!!! Happy pilgrims...Happy me...Met bikers from Colombia...The most handsome ones...Woo, must have been a dream...
Finally, we arrived in Cusco at 6:30 in the morning with a back and neck pain...The altitude had struck me this time, I had not slept well either, so coca tea was my cure!!! My backpack came out from the bus the latest so I was very pissed off!!! As soon as we jumped out of the bus in Cusco, taxi drivers surrounded us. I was not in a good mood, got the taxi for 5 soles (with a frowning face!!!). The cab driver tried to sell us hotel, tours etc..We just ignored him, in this case being a tourism person helps!!! 
Our hotel was on a steep hill, it´s called "Samay Wasi"...The people had a very warm greeting, got us a room by the time the room was ready and gave us coca tea to relax and to get rid of the "sorroche"(altitude sickness). Though at some point, I liked it, it is a little like being drunk, except for the trouble in respiration...We decided to prepare our little backpack to spend the night at Aguas Calientes which is the closest town to Machu Picchu and take the famous Machu Picchu train from Ollantantaybo in the afternoon. We had listened lots of stories from the other gringos like the long lines at the train station, problems for buying entrances etc...Therefore, we were a little uneasy to get a train ticket and entrance tickets to Machu Picchu. We decided to take our chance, prepared our overnite backpacks and hit the road towards the San Pedro Train Station. 
Cusco is a colorful city, has many squares and different markets. The first thing we did was to go to the station to ask for the tickets. We actually were waiting a long line and other gringos queued up to get train tickets but there was nobody else!!! We could not believe that but we got the return tickets to/from Ollaytantaybo to Aguas Calientes for 77 USD! Relieved and relaxed, we had a good breakfast and had some coca tea at a small cafe and jumped on a minibus to Urubamba to get to Ollaytantambo...
It was a nice trip, took 1 hour 40 mins and we changed to a small minibus at Urubamba. At Ollaytantambo, Piril got a little disappointed because there was just a little tiny square and some ruins, that was it!!! We found some salad at a little cafe. The village definitely had more dog population than human!!! They were everywhere, barking and peeing all around, well the men here are not any different though...We took our train, there were maybe 20 people on the train, no more!!! We were even offered a sandwich and juice on the train, which was another surprise..The train passed from beautiful green areas, 
I tried to take some pics...It was such an amazing nature but all of a sudden, it started raining cats and dogs!!! As soon as we arrived in Aguas Calientes, a boy approached us and offered a hotel room with cable TV and private bath for 50 soles. We followed him and found out that the TV was local. After some hard bargaining (Piril is the absolute bargainer!!!), we got the room for 40 soles...
After dropping our bag, we went to buy our Machu Picchu ticket and the bus to go up to the Machu Picchu Sanctuary. It was raining like crazy, we looked around the handicraft market, got some small souvenirs and had grilled alpaca at a restaurant. It tastes like chicken and meat together, but nice!!! We went to bed early tonite ...The next morning, 
we woke up at 5 and caught the first bus climbing up to the Machu Picchu. We were there at 6 am!!! As soon as we got there, we met Iswet and some people quietly having breakfast. Iswet was a certified tour guide and the guys having breakfast were the Colombian motorcyclists who were traveling the continent on the bike!!! Could you imagine how happy I could be, I was at Machu Picchu and touring with bikers!!! 
It was a dream and I liked every minute of it...We dealt with Iswed for 10 soles per head for the 3 hour tour. She told us about the Inka People, how the place was found by Hiram Birgham in 1911 and the customs/traditions of the Inka people...It was so peaceful and one could easily feel the super high energy at the terraces of the hidden city...Our new friends were all friends and relatives, traveling 10 guys and 2 girls on Suzuki Freewind and Honda Transalp . 
They asked my opinion and I of course voted for Honda as a Honda owner! After our tour finished, Iswed offered us to have breakfast at the restaurant of the workers. Our handsome and friendly Colombian friends decided to go to Huayna Picchu which was much higher and offered some great views of Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu means the youth mountain and the actual summit is more than 3000 mts. 
While they left for Huayna Picchu, we followed Iswed to have huevos con arroz(eggs with rice) at 10:30 am! She was 26, guiding for 7 years , married with a 22 month old baby girl,Libertad. We decided to buy a bus tour to Puno and a city tour of Cusco from her as she was very nice...We had a deal for the bus and city tour for 110 soles and for Puno tour, hostel, Copacabana Isla del Sol excursion and bus ticket to La Paz for 72 USD..After the deal, we went back to Aguas 
Calientes, took our train back to Ollaytantambo and took the minibus for Urubamba. We took a minibus from Urubamba but the minibus we took did not follow the same route as the previous one,it went through unpaved village roads and collected everyone on the road...It took almost 2,5 hours for us to come back to Cusco. We just took a taxi back home and crashed... We were sooo tired but we were happy as we had done the most important part of our 
tour and had become pilgrims of Machu Picchu!!!The next day, we woke up early, enjoyed the beautiful handicraft market which moved to Plaza de Armas just for Xmas, had coffee and returned back home for our city tour. We had a city tour which covered some Inca Sites and a cathedral in the city. It was a nice tour, we met an Indian couple living in Santiago,Chile and decided to meet up one day for coffee or a drink...After our tour has finished, we went to eat at Jack's, which is a friend of Ricardo, the owner of Honda Transalp and the salad there was pretty good... We had a quiet Xmas nite and went to bed early to start the day at 6:30!!! Happy pilgrims...Happy me...Met bikers from Colombia...The most handsome ones...Woo, must have been a dream...
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