More Machu Picchu

Our last post said it all... the place is absolutely incredible.
Before we went to bed on Sunday we had word from the manager of the B&B in Aguas Calientes that a train had finally made it through by 1800 that night.  So we knew trains would be running on Monday.  We did the same as the day before -- taxi to the train station & bus to Ollantaytambo, but this time we boarded the train.  Hooray!

It took about an hour and half to get there on the train... we followed the raging Urubamba River the whole time.  At kilometer 82 we could see the groups leaving for the 4-day trek to Machu Picchu along the Inka Trail.

We got to Aguas Caliente about 11, then got our tickets to MP and our bus tickets.  The adventure began as we went from 8000 feet to more than 8400 feet up a series of switchbacks on a narrow road.  About halfway up, we began to see the ruins.

We climbed up to the top of the ruins and then worked our way down.

We even made a friend...

We spent several hours exploring... then the clouds started moving back in and it began to rain.  By the time we got down to the bus station it was pouring.  We had dressed well and managed to stay dry.