Day 20: Machu Picchu!

We went to Machu Picchu today. It actually lived up to the hype.

There are a lot of ways to get there. You can do a 3 – 4 day hike of the Inca trail, and you can do a 7 hour mini-hike. We admittedly took the least back-packy approach possible: 10 min van to 2.5 hour train to 25 min bus right to the the front door.

It was a day we will never forget but here are a few details we’ll want to remember:

• Our guide Boris was awesome. Lives in Cusco; Easy going, informative, has two young boys so was unfazed by impatient kids and was bffs with James by the end of the day. Mariano Rivera doppelgänger.
• The “Hiram Bingham” train: also operated by Belmond (like our overnight train) we had our own assigned booth seats; great service; brunch on the way and dinner on the way back; all drinks included. Everything was perfectly thoughtful except the hilarious, off-brand Peruvian rock band playing American 70s and 80s hits — like they were pretending to be terrible at karaoke.
• Bus ride was easily the most dangerous thing we’ve done in the first 3 weeks of our travels— rumbling up the mountain on curvy one-lane roads with no guardrails
• The ruins: You’ve seen images of this place — but they don’t really capture the full visual. It’s not just the ruins but the whole landscape — 360 degrees around and from the river below to the clouds hanging below the tops of surrounding mountains. We still took about 1000 pics — a bunch included below.
• We took the absolute easiest approach and it’s still a lot of walking. We spent 2 hours going up and down super-narrow cobble-stoney paths and steep steps.
• My mom was a star — she’s 72 and kept right up.
• Kids were really good. If asked, they will probably talk about the millipede before they mention the ruins. James held Boris’s hand for most of the time which kept him on point. He got a little antsy by the end and Willa had a exhaustion / hunger-induced meltdown about 5 min before the exit gate — quickly solved by the lemonade and snacks at tea time in the Belmond at the base of the mountain (and a kind tourist lady who offered her a chocolate bar).
• Successful 10-min shopping experience before getting back on the train — Willa got the wool poncho she was craving and James got a guinea pig stuffed animal made of alpaca fur.
• Weather was great. Very warm in the sun. We packed expecting to wear a bunch of layers and we were all in t-shirts. A little drizzle for maybe 15 minutes but that’s it.
• Back at our hotel in Urubamba by 9:00pm.

About 1% of the photos we took today…