Hiya Babe!
Wow, what an incredible day! Up bright and early at 5:30, up to the 7th floor for a light breakfast, then down to the lobby all packed and ready to go to meet our guide at 6:30. Didn't sleep all that great, short hours, but was so excited it didn't matter, we were all raring to go! Our guide Elizabeth arrived, and walked us down to the bus stop, which already had a long line waiting, but one it got started it moved along pretty quickly, with bus after bus filling up, turning around and leaving. Like most roads here, it was barely wide enough for two vehicles to pass, with plenty of places where that wasn't even possible, so there were numerous times one of the busses had to back up to make room for the other to make the corner. We arrived safely, (it's obviously not their first rodeo!), then stood in another line waiting to get in. Everything is highly efficient, using electronics to check everyone in and out. We finally made it through the line, and headed down the walkway that was the entrance, until it opened up into the ruins. It was breathtaking! Elizabeth spent nearly a full three hours taking us around Circuit 3, which in my humble opinion, was excellent for my type of tour. We were able to get down to the main grounds, and the royal house, and was a much more close encounter than the other two. Apparently Circuit one is only about 90 minutes, and it takes you to the highest spot, so you get the widest photo shot, but you never really get down into the heart of the ruins. Circuit 2 was supposed to be good, too, but still didn't get as deep into the heart of the buildings as we did. Loved it! After three hours, and a lot of education, we headed back out to the busses, once again went down the switchback road into town, where we split up. Jane and I decided first to have a frothy iced latte, wandered through the markets for awhile, then found a restaurant on the way back to the train station where we decided to have a good meal to tide us over, since I prefer to eat much earlier than we've been eating, and not sleeping too well because I've eaten too much, too late. This worked out fine! We had a great meal, enjoyed some musical entertainment, then walked to the train station, met up with the other ladies (who splurged on a foot massage!), boarded the train and had a lovely trip in the observation car, with the tracks following the river all the way back. Our cabin attendants presented a little fashion show of alpaca wear, and we were given snacks as well. We saw a long string of wildfires on the mountain just before we were arriving, but there's not that much growth to burn and the wind was blowing strong uphill, acting almost as a back burn. Claudio met us at the station, we walked to his truck, and drove the 45 minutes back to the hotel, where we all pretty much crashed for the evening. At least I certainly did! A nice long hot shower and into bed for me! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!
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