Machu Picchu

(Annie was desperate for that to be Mach Picch...she is sure this is what all the locals call it)
ANYWAY...
So we visited Machu Picchu and stayed in Aguas Calientes, a pretty small town with limited entertainment and massively tourist orientated. We began a search for somewhere to eat and found ourselves standing between two overly enthusiastic restaurant owners who were showering us with various offers whilst THRUSTING their respective menus in our faces. We ended up with two free drinks and a less than half price pizza. WIN.
Later we went to a small cafe where we ordered tea (obviously, although it wasn't proper tea). Annie's arrived cold so after much complaining, she approached the waiter who looked confused and proceeded to try her tea to ascertain it's temperature before whisking it away, heating in the microwave and returning it, complete with used teabag and peruvian germs. Annie was repulsed and was forced to drink tea at most unusual angles:

 
Later that day we indulged in a five star three course meal in THE most happening restaurant in Aguas Calientes, Indofeliz. It was delicious, although Annie was mocked by Germans. This was, however made up for by the price...60 soles each, the equivalent of £15 for a three course meal!
We then returned to the hostel to meet our guide for the next day. She was lovely and friendly and offered to take our tickets to a place where she could get money off to exchange them for student tickets. We thought this was simply marvelous and allowed her to go alone to the ticket place. What a kind lady.  She then returned with money for us. How nice. Unfortunately, unbeknown to us until later, she had taken a tidy little profit from the extra money and left us 40 soles short. YET AGAIN, victims of theft and tourist naivety...

The Urubamba river taken from the train

The bridges are top notch in Aguas Calientes

Apparently Jesus is black in Peru

LLAMA

So we wake up at dawn's crack and catch a bus to Machu Picchu where we greeted by our tour guide and taken on a detailed tour of one of the seven wonders of the world! Pictures can probably describe this experience rather more accurately than words, so here are a few!

The classic postcard shot...

The classic tourist...

And again.

And again...

And just once more...!

We also voluntarily decided to partake in some exercise to obtain a view looking down at the entire site. This involved a hike up to a place called the sun gate (basically a mountain in it's own right), which is along the Inca Trail and the first point where you see Machu Picchu. According to our tour guide this should take 15 minutes at "Inca Speed" and 45 minutes at "tourist speed". Needless to say it took us a healthy hour, involving multiple stops and cries of exhaustion.  It was however worth the struggle as we got to see this:

At the sun gate

We then walked back down having collected a few fellow trekkers, Florian (german) and Di

(australian), before returning to Aguas Calientes to catch our train home. The train takes four hours to cover 57 miles due to poor tracks. This does not make for a smooth journey, we've never been thrown from side to side for such a long period of time! Upon returning, Rebecca realised half her shoulder was missing, thanks sun and backpack.
This week we're teaching properly in the school and we'll tell you about that in the next post!
Lots of love,
Rebecca and Annie
xxx