After a night of not great sleep (crazy man howling, crying and moaning outside my window off and on for hours) I received my 5am wake-up call. I didn´t get up until 5:30 and then had to pack since I´d been to tired the night before after my long, hot bath, followed by a hot shower with water pressure - those two things alone made the trip worth it. After I packed, I ate breakfast, which was nice for a hotel complimentary breakfast: fresh fruit and juice, granola, yogurt, pancakes, eggs, ham and cheese sandwiches, cake and very strong coffee. Then I went to the bus station to get my bus to Machupicchu, it was around 6:45.
The bus left a few minutes after I boarded and we got up to the entrance around 7:20. I had to wait in line to go through the checkpoint. When I got near the front of the line I was asked for my ticket and since I didn´t have one was sent to the ticket office. The office isn´t marked, I just saw a place that said "Oficina" tucked away in a corner, so I went in. There IS a charge to get in! It´s 120 soles (about $40). So Amy didn´t get suckered! I told the woman that I hadn´t bought a ticket the day before and got in. "You walked in without buying a ticket?" "Yes." "And you actually went to Machupicchu?" "Yes, for hours." She just gave a look to her coworker, said something in Spanish (don´t know what, far from fluent).
Before I left the hotel, I decided to make my bag lighter and put my big wallet in my luggage and just brought my change purse with all the cash I had, about 50 soles, which I thought was plenty for the day. I left my bankcard in my wallet. So I couldn´t get into Machupicchu without returning to my hotel. It was too early to be able to catch a bus back down, so I had to walk, which took 2 hours. By the time I got back in town, it was too late to be able to get back and do the hike I wanted and since I spent several hours at Machupicchu the day before, I decided not to go back. Oh well, it´s a reason to return. And with my extra time, I was able to finally download some pictures. But given that it took me almost four hours to finally download just 19 pictures, I don´t know how many more I will be downloading while in Peru. But I do have have pictures of the sometimes perilous stairs I walked down! Unfortunately, those are not some I was able to download.
To see all the pictures I did download, go to http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=181849070/a=30879917/t_=30879917. It´s at Snapfish and you need an account to be able to see them.
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