We are up at 5:00 AM, put our extra stuff in storage with the hotel, and hail a cab to the train station.\u00a0 We get our tickets and have some coca tea and a sandwich while we wait to board the train.<\/p>\n
The Peruvian train system is an experience.\u00a0 The train was very nice, and comfortable, and started out on time.\u00a0 But after just a few minutes, we were suddenly stopped, and then the train backed up for what seemed most of the way we had gone, then waited a while, and then pulled forward on a different track.\u00a0 Then it stopped again, backed up again, and then moved forward on still another track!<\/p>\n
Eventually we made progress, and moved through the Peruvian countryside, following a raging, white-water river.\u00a0 We passed a few villages, and stopped several move times, and backed up several more times, for unknown reasons.\u00a0 The ride was bumpy and jostling, but not uncomfortable.\u00a0 The train car had a good bathroom and even had food and beverage service.\u00a0 The train track ran though a fantastically scenic river valley, with the raging river alongside, and steep mountains on both sides.\u00a0 Soon the roads and farms disappeared, and the valley became steeper and more rugged.\u00a0 Very beautiful.\u00a0 There were many scattered buildings;\u00a0 first red adobe, then gray adobe.\u00a0 Ancient terraces and ruins were visible here and there along the route.\u00a0 The vegetation soon became lush jungle.\u00a0 When the road ended, the trees began, and soon the mountainsides were forested.\u00a0 I enjoyed the train ride immensely, and spent the entire four hours just watching the scenery go by the window.\u00a0 Fantastic!<\/p>\n
We arrived at the Machu-Picchu village, Aguascalientes, almost on time.\u00a0 It is a totally artificial place, built just for tourists coming to the ruin site.\u00a0 All new buildings and streets, no cars, nothing here\u00a0but restaurants, hotels, internet cafes, and gift and coffee shops.\u00a0 There was a large craft market adjacent to the train station.\u00a0 Very funny place.\u00a0 There were lots of Peruvians making a living selling stuff to the tourists, but all very controlled and regulated.\u00a0 All that said, the village was in a beautiful spot, nestled between mountains and at the confluence of three raging rivers.\u00a0 The sound of the rushing water was everywhere you went.<\/p>\n
We found a very reasonable hotel, and caught up on email and blogging.\u00a0It rained on and off all afternoon, sometimes very heavy. \u00a0We walked up the hill to the hot-water baths that give the area is name, and soaked in the warm water bathes until we were well wrinkled.\u00a0 We bought or bus tickets to the ruin site for the morning, and went to bed early, for another 5:00 wake up call.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We are up at 5:00 AM, put our extra stuff in storage with the hotel, and hail a cab to the train station.\u00a0 We get our tickets and have some coca tea and a sandwich while we wait to board the train. The Peruvian train system is an experience.\u00a0 The train was very nice, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[6,22],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.longridesouth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2593"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.longridesouth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.longridesouth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.longridesouth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.longridesouth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2593"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.longridesouth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2593\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2596,"href":"https:\/\/www.longridesouth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2593\/revisions\/2596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.longridesouth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.longridesouth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.longridesouth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}