6/22 - Second Day in Machu Picchu

This was a free day where we could chose to revisit Machu Picchu. Kathleen and Phyllis and Elaine decided to go back up to Machu Picchu to take one of the Inca trails up to the "Sun Gate." In order to do this, they had to catch the bus at about 4:00 am...the 3rd of these early wake-ups of the trip.

Rick and I decided to sleep in. We went up later on the bus, then walked down the trail to the valley. The valley is at 2000 meters (6600 feet) and Machu Picchu is at 2400 meters (7800 feet), so we went down 1200 feet. I suspect that was about 200o steps. Wisdom that comes with age says that you decide to walk down instead of up.

Kathleen and her friends saw the sun rise. She says it was spectacular, with rays radiating outward in steps as it became more and more intense. She only took the small camera, so we do not have great pictures of it. The others may have some better pictures of it that we'll post later.
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We then had a train ride back that evening from Agua Calientes to Lima. Normally that would have been a 4-hour train ride. However, because of the floods, we had to leave the train after 2 hours and take mini buses for the last half. This was miserable. Half of the ride was on bumpy dirt roads. And we were going up 50% in altitude. Rick and I both either had air within our bodies or something that made us question whether or not we would arrive without an unfortunate problem. Bed and our own room were quite welcome that evening as we got in about midnight.