20 Feb 2012
Today, we are driving through the Andes, heading toward Ollantaytambo, where we’ll catch a train to take us to Aguas Calientes, the town near Machu Picchu:
Vicuñas! (like tiny alpacas)
We’re way up near the clouds:
Looking down into the valley:
Urubamba River:
It’s a bit hard to see, but look at all the terraces cut into the mountain!
Little town nestled in the valley:
Pisac archeological park:
It’s hard to capture the scale of just how massive these terraces are:
(the downside of getting here early and not having any other tourists for scale)
Looking through the windows at the road we drove up (left) and Steve (right):
Terracing:
This is the largest Incan cemetery in South America- approximately 1000 tombs are carved into this mountainside:
Ollantaytambo:
Our group for a slightly better sense of scale for some of the terraces:
An old Incan fortress:
I’m not sure what we’re all holding:
Our group at the Wall of the Six Monoliths:
Look a how tight those joints are!
From here we boarded our train for a scenic, but at times sketchy, ride out to Aguas Calientes where we’d be staying the night. Unfortunately, on top of being sick, I also get motion sick and partway through our drive out here through the mountains I started feeling seriously not ok and frantically argued with our driver, in Spanish, that I couldn’t wait 5 more minutes til the next town, I needed to stop now.
Fortunately, he pulled over and there was a nice bush to hide behind, but I passed out on the bus floor for the rest of the drive, and wasn’t really feeling up to photographing the train or the next town.
All the more reason to go back!