the little bug expedition - day eight (pam)

I love saying Ollantaytambo. Besides the town’s cool name, it has some really cool Incan ruins. To enjoy them, though, you really have to climb hundreds of ancient steps. Sadly, we didn’t have time to spend at Ollantaytambo on this trip. We had a train to catch about 9:00 am – and it was on time! Amazing! It took a couple of hours to arrive at Aguas Calientes, the colloquial name for the Machu Picchu pueblo at the base of the mountains that house the ancient ruins. Wayne didn’t feel he could do much hiking around Machu Picchu, so he and Cameron found somewhere to hang out at Aguas Calientes. The rest of us boarded the bus that took us to the ruins. This was my third trip to Machu Picchu, so I broke away from the group to take photos at my slow pace. It was too bad that the sun didn’t peak from behind the clouds, because Machu Picchu always looks better under illumination. It was a VERY hot day, even so. And I mean hot! I almost got eaten by huge red ants that found me resting on a ledge. I didn’t rest after that until I got on the bus that took me back to Aguas Calientes.

Wayne and Cameron were easier to find than I thought. Actually Wayne found me walking through the small plaza. He had a window seat at an internet café that didn’t have any internet. No electricity either! The entire town hadn’t had electricity for almost twenty-four hours. Not an uncommon occurrence in South America. At least the trains were running – and running on time. Thank goodness!

But the return train ride was going to be longer; almost twice as long as the one we took this morning. Instead of returning to Ollantaytambo (and Urubamba), we were headed to Cusco. So imagine a train seat that makes you sit straight up with hardly any leg room. Imagine your butt gone numb. Imagine people sleeping on the floor because it is a lot more comfortable. If you can imagine being on a buck-board, you can imagine the jarring ride. And then there was the time the train stopped in the dark and backed up the length of the train. I think the engineer took the wrong track. Either that or he had to back up to get the momentum the train needed to get over the mountains. Then there was the time the train came to a screeching halt.. It appeared that we had run over something. The engineers were under the train with their spotlights for a while. That was enough excitement for one day, believe me.