One Week End

Last weekend I decided to go and visit wilder and tom in the small towm of Ollantetambo, where they had been living for the past week. After school on Friday I collected all the information I needed to get to the bus station, how long it would take, how much it would cost from my teacher and my host family. I packed my bags and all i needed to do was call the boys and tell them that i was comming...
I got to the bus station and at soon as I stepped through the gateway, a man from the station ran up to me and said Ollantetambo?? Ollantetambo?? i said yes, and asked him when the bus was going to leave he said (in spanish) RIGHT NOW! And he hearded me onto the bus. It was a beatiful 2 hour ride through the country but I had never had time to call the boys and tell them I was comming so I was just hoping that they were still there and that I could find them!
As soon as I go off the bus I went to buy a phone card and went to the nearest public phone. Just as I was about to dail I saw both of them walking though the center of town! perfect timing!!
They said I was lucky to have seen them because they had just got back from an all day hike. They also told me they had plans to leave for machu piccu the next day early in the monring. So my plans quickly turned into going to machu piccu the next morning.

We stayed in their hostel over night and cooked for the first time since I´ve been here. We made a delicious stir fry for all of us for about 7 dollars!

In the morning we got on a bus to St. maria the bus ride took about 5 hours including an hour wait at a little pull away off the road where something with our engine broke.. nobody really knew what happened..luckily there was food.
When we go to St. Maria we hopped directly into a taxi headed for st.Theresa were we planned on drivng to this hydro electrical plant and walk along the train track all the way to Aguas Callientes( the town right beling machu piccu). Another man on our bus to St. Maria was doing the same thing so he came with us in our taxi. His name was... well none of us could understand his name but we called him jaime emongst ourselves, he was from brazil and was doing something with a video camera in machu piccu, again we did really understand allot of what he said, he had a inersting brazilian accent.

The taxi ride was another 2 and a half hours through the mountains and when we go to the hydro electrical plant there was a bunch of places to eat all along the beging on the rail road tracks.


The walk was one of the most amazing thing for me about our trip, it was pretty much jungle terrain and the river on one side of us, beautiful trees, waterfalls, flowers and birds! At about an hour into our walk it began to rain, and then down pour! We found a little shack thing where we were going to stay until the rain stopped but it didn´t stop and some one had pooped right near where we were standing so we didn´t stay there to long. None of us had brought rain jackets and we all we completely soaked! We used the huge leaves from the banana trees to cover our head and back packs but nothing seem to stop us for becoming one with the rain...
Another 2 hours walking in the rain and we finally go to Aguas Callinetes. At around 5 or 6 p.m. making our whole day a 10 hour excursion. my feet just began to be a little sore just as we stepped onto the pavement of our final destination.
We found a hostel to stay at for the night but when I went to take a shower, there was no hot water! When I was done with my freezing cold shower I had no towel! I ended up using my sheet from my bed to dry my self off with and when I was done drying off, I had nothing dry to put on!!SUCH A DISASTER! Since wilder was the ¨Dryest¨ one of us he went out for some food and beverageS and we stayed in our hotel playing cards and eating take out all night. In the morning although he hung up our clothes to dry, they had not dryed. We put on out still soaking wet clothers and head miserablly for the bus station. We got on the bus for machu piccu without any breakfast, luckily I had a peice of soggy bread from the morning before to much on...

We went up, up, UP the winding road to machu piccu and when we finally arrived there was definetally a site to be seen. It was about 9 in the morning and there was allot of people there but still just enough so that I could take pictures with out tons of people in the shot!The first thing we did was hike up to mount. Wayanpiccu because we knew that they only let 400 people up a day. The hike was the hardest hike EVER ! probabaly the biggest most steep mountain I have ever climbed int my life! with 30 percent less oxegen than I´m used to I had to stop and breathe ever three minutes. But, of course the top was ever so worth it!
Machu piccu was beautiful and incredible to have visited but my favorite part of the trip still remains to be the walk on the railroad tracks. And surprisingly, the horriible hike up wayanpiccu!
We took the bus back to Aguas calientes and payed a little more money for the train back to Ollantetembo. we were so tried from the hike that morning and from all the walking the day before. the train took 2 hours. after one more night at the hostel in Ollantetambo it was back to cusco and back to school!