MachuPicchu finally!

I finally managed to book myself ont6o a 2 day tour to MachuPicchu and the sacred valley and set off for more rain-enhanced hiking. Day one was visiting Pisac (where I´d already been) and the sacred valley, which was pretty and interesting and rainy as usual. Inka ruins at Ollantaytambo done, I was left with an unholy 6 hours to kill in the little village, until my train at 11pm. I´d met a couple of people on the bus so we all had dinner together and I trouped off for my train, eventually arriving in Aguas Calientes (the town with hot springs, literally Hot Waters) at 2am where I was met by Betty, my connection person, and marched up soggy streets to my bed for the night.
Sleeo was incredibly brief, since I wanted to climb Huaynupicchu mountain the next day, a feat which requires a person to be within the first 400 people to the entrance gate of MachuPicchu in the morning. This means getting up at 4am, to be first in the queue for bus tickets up when the bus station opens at 5.30am. An hour and a half of standing in the cold, dark and rain later, followed by a bumpy bus ride over potholed, perilous roads and I finally got to the gate of MP. I was number 281! Amazing joy!
I spoke to some London girls who said they had hiked up, and the road was so badly flooded they were walking in a waterfall the whole way: "We just assumed we were going to die, but we might as well try and keep going anyway." Yes indeed. Glad I didn´t try that then!

Anyways, have to go now. Will relate more of the Epic adventure later.

xoxo