July 24 2009 - - MACHU PICCHU!

July 24th – Machu Picchu!
first time:

Today the group went to Machu Picchu. We left at 6:30am, bright and early, to get into the Mercedes Van that took us to the train station – Perurail – in Ollantaytambo. The train was really cool; it’s a beautiful ride to Machu Picchu. It took about 2hrs. When we arrived at Aguas Calientes (Hot Springs) – the town below the ruins – we had to get ponchos…because it had started to drizzle. We ate our packed lunches, and boarded tour buses that took us up the 25min, switchback mountain ride to Machu Picchu.
We were basically let loose into the ruins, to go in whatever groups we desired, and were at our leisure ( or 3hrs ) to peruse the ruins. I went off with Colten, Whitney and Georgia.
Machu Picchu was definitely not what I expected; it was more. I mean, I’ve seen pictures, but it’s different when you’re there. If you have enough of an imagination, you can picture the Inca walking amongst the ruins as you pass your had along the well lain stone walls. The heavy clouds and drizzle made it that much more mysterious, I think. The clouds constantly moved among the ruins, and it appeared like the ruins morphed; they changed. While this made the experience thrilling, it made picture-taking somewhat of an art. Once the clouds moved, uncovering some parts of the ruins, you had to quickly span a photo before the clouds moved in swiftly to engulf them in a blanket of grey. It was definitely an experience I’ll never forget. There’s something to be said about ancient architecture that still stands today, and being able to walk, as the Inca must have, through these structures. I think it’s as close to time travel as we can get.

July 25 – July 27st. I didn’t do much except hang around my apartment at the villa. Due to the fact that I was feeling pretty ill. Movement was painful. So, those days weren’t very exciting.