Happy New Year’s Eve!! Can’t believe that it’s 2025. Spending New Year’s Day at Machu Picchu was the best way to bring in a new year even if the day started at 5 AM. Luckily our hotel is prepared for people leaving early to go to Machu Picchu so we were able to have a nice breakfast before we left.
 |
| Look at that tiny banana! |
 |
| Breakfast with a view |
The bus ride from Aguas Calientes up to Machu Pichu Mountain was about 30 minutes on a steep road with lots of switchbacks. It was beautiful! I took a video. I think it loaded near the bottom of this post. I’m going to have trouble with the next part of this post because words and photos can’t come close to explaining and showing how magnificent Machu Picchu is. It was crazy seeing something in person that you’ve seen in photos for years.
When we arrived at 7am the weather was perfect and there were no clouds covering the mountains. We wore long sleeves to protect us from bugs, but there really wasn’t many out yet. We were also some of the first visitors there for the day so it was not crowded at all.
Getting up to this viewpoint was some uphill climbing, but not nearly as much as what we did the previous day and glaciers, the view was worth every step.
 |
| Our whole group |
Once we rested and took all the photos we wanted from the top, we walked right into the ruins. Again our guide was a wealth oh knowledge. So much history.
By 8am the cloud cover began creeping in. By 8:30 it was raining lightly, and by the time we left at 9am, there was full cloud cover. The visitors coming into the park as we were leaving were not going to get the traditional view of the ruins because of the clouds. 5am wake up was not fun, but as it turns out, totally worth it!
 |
| 1/2 of the southern cross. On summer solstice the sun hits this rock and the shadow forms the other half |
 |
| Clouds coming in |
 |
| Do you see the alpaca? |
 |
| Love this photo of Matt that Dave took |
All too soon it was time to leave this magical place and take the bus ride back down to Aguas Calientes. Once there, we had two hours to walk around, shop and eat a brunch.
 |
| Such a beautiful town! |
We had a great brunch of empanadas, nachos, and Inca Kola. Loved the fresh avocados. Sadly Ann-Marie was not feeling too well, but the salty chips helped some.
For the train ride back to Cusco we were in the vista dome car and got to sit at a table with the Proctors. We played a quick game and then just rested and enjoyed the views.
Kind of funny though, at one point they put on a traditional dance and a fashion show for us as entertainment.
 |
| The train station |
Here is the video from the bus ride.
The ride from the train station back to Cusco was about an hour and half. It was a bit sad saying goodbye to our new friends once we were back in Cusco. The Proctors went with us to our hotel to pick up the luggage they left and then left to go to their hotel for the night. Sadly, by the time they booked the rooms, our hotel we were in didn’t have this second night available. We took some time to get settled in our new room. It was larger than our last one and actually had a cool view, but it was on the 4th floor. Ugh. Felt the no oxygen again.
 |
| Funny saying on the wall in our hotel room |
Here’s a video of the view from our room this time.
When we checked back in at the hotel we did get some bad news. There was a problem with the water in the area and the hotel had no water = no bathrooms. Ugh. They said they were working on it and it would be back on in about an hour. An hour later after we had rested and we were heading out to meet Dave and Ann-Marie for dinner, the front desk said the water should be back on in about an hour. We went out to a yummy traditional roasted chicken and fries dinner. Goodness the salty food tasted so good. The last few days it’s been a fight to keep hydrated no matter how much we are drinking. After dinner it was time to say farewell to Dave and Ann-Marie. They had an earlier flight back to Lima the next morning. We were not sure if we were going to see them in Lima either due to them flying stand by. When we got back to the hotel they let us know the water would be back on in an hour. 😂 They were actually working on it with hoses going into the hotel though. We were pretty worried we were not going to have any water at all and no showers until Lima, but luckily this time the water did come back on in an hour. We had to spend time rearranging our bags again to prepare for our flight back to Lima in the morning.
Comments
Post a Comment