Machu Picchu

Had to wake up early again to get the bus to Ollantaytambo and catch the train to Machu Picchu. It's a very comfortable train,with hostess service on board. But the greatest about it, it's the ride itself always following the valley of Urubamba or Vilcanota river: you get to admire the mountains, the crop fields, the trees,then the forest that gets more and more dense until you find the train is in the middle of a tropical jungle. When I finally arrived to Aguas Calientes ( a small termal enter), the weather was grey and cloudy, but fortunately, it did not rain, so I went with the guide to the stop of the local buses to reach the archeological centre. It's really amazing, because the last thing you'd expect is to find such a city almost on top of the mountain. There is a crop and storage area and then the village and ceremonial area, with the temples of the Sun, the Water and Pachamama (Mother Earth). We also went to the Intiwatana (the altar of the Sun): it functioned as a kind of solar calendar that indicated solstices and equinocces so it was the way to organize the work in the fields and then we got to see a reconstruction of a "kollca" (a barn). I must say that I'd enjoy it a lot more if there were less tourists! It was also unfortunate that it was scheduled that I had to go back to the village for lunch. I had prefered to eat a sandwich up there and be able to walk around on my own, but...
Next day, I woke up early, but it was raining (actually, it's the rainy season), so no way to go up to the ruins again. But then it stopped and a local girl at a shop adviced me to go, since it would be cloudy, but not raining. So I went with the bus again and actually, it was all covered by clouds, which made the landscape look really mysterious. I walked around and took pictures, also admiring the plants, ferns,mosses and lichens. I also went to the visitor's center, had my passport maked with the Machu Picchu seal . Then I went back to the village right in the moment when it started to rain again. Then I picked my luggage and went to the railroad station to catch the train back to Cusco.