Macchu Picchu

Saturday at 5:00am we were up and off to the train that would take us to Aguas Calientes (the town at the base of Macchu Picchu.) This train ride was beautiful. Joey did spend a lot of his time in the tiny bathroom, trying to shake off his ailment from the night before. I told him "you just CAN'T be sick." When we got to Aguas Calientes we hit a pharmacy for some major drugs for him. I love Joey's face in this picture...you can tell he doesn't feel so hot.

After the train, you board a bus, and drive a CRAZY road. It is one switchback after another. I had to go to my "happy place" to stay calm. Here is a picture of the road from the top so you can get an idea of what I mean.

I will let the pictures of Macchu Picchu speak for themselves. The views are almost unbelievable. It looks fake.

Joey, doing the pose my sister Ashley loves so much. "I did it!"

Joey showing the all important "pacchu mama"

Joey, goofing off.

Even more goofing, he crawled under this big rock to act like he was crawling out of the earth.

This is Joey pointing to Wainu Picchu, the mountain you can climb there. They let 400 people climb it each day. Unfortunately the list was alreading full, and we couldn't do it. (well, I should really say fortunately, Joey was just hanging in, Justin, recovering from acl surgery, Angelique, pregnant, and I am out of shape!)

A tired and hot group resting in the shade.

Once again, I mention that Justin was/is recovering from a recent knee surgery. There was alot of climbing. Can you say ice pack?

Look at all the terraces for the farming of different crops....a common occurence in incan ruins. And still in use all over the andes today.

I am afraid of heights, and there were MANY crazy drop offs. Here's me challenging my inner calm.

I had to include this picture of Joey playing "risk" on his iphone. He did this alot on this trip (boring). I thought it was funny, being at one of the 7th wonders of the world, and Joey still interacting with his first love, the everpresent iphone. (Justin and Crisdee also had them!)

Joey and I at the entrance of the city.

We were off the ruins by the afternoon. We did some shopping in the markets, and then got back on the train. We rode to Uribamba, got back on our little bus, and drove back to Cuzco. We saw some beautiful countryside. Farms, animals and mountains. We got a little carsick at the end...lots of switchbacks once again, coming back into the town of Cuzco. I will tell about dinner in my next post.