Y Ahora: Stairway to the Clouds

It´s quite an ordeal to get from Cuzco to Machu Picchu. The way we did it was take an hour and half long bus ride to Urubamba. From there we took a combi (minivan taxi) to another little town called Ollantaytambo. From there we had to take a two hour train to Aguas Calientes, and from there you can either hike or take a bus up the mountain to the ruins.
When we got to Ollantaytambo in the afternoon, train tickets to Aguas Calientes were sold out, so we bought them for the next day and looked in our trusted Lonely Planet for where to stay in Ollanta. What would we do without Lonely Planet??
Anyways, it directed us to an awesome hostel run by an American who has lived there over ten years and runs mountain bike tours as well. He gave us a room with hot water and an INCREDIBLE view of the mountains, with ruins of the fortress staring back at us. Ollanta is the original Incan town, and it was really cool to spend some unplanned

time there. A quaint town square sat in the middle of long winding stone alleyways. All the roads and alleyways have intricate stone canals that carry the rainwater through the town and into the river. It´s quite amazing! We found a path along the river which took us for a gorgeous little hike. I was super glad the train didn´t have room and we were "stuck" there. :)

The next morning we woke up at 5 and went down to the train station, along with the hoardes of other tourists. It was an amazingly pretty ride through the snow capped mountains and along the angry rushing river.
We got to Aguas Calientes, bought some bananas and set out on our trek. You can get a bus ticket up the

mountain for $8 a person each way. Or you can walk it, which is what we did. At first it was great - super pretty, felt good to move, etc...But the path turned into huge stone stairs, and by the time I had been climbing stairs for over an hour, I wanted to die. I´m not kidding, these stairs were immense, and never ending. We climbed them for two hours. All I could think about was, "How in the world did those Incas get up this high in order to build their stinking empire?" and "Why??" We finally got to the top and entered into Machu Picchu. Before you get to the classic postcard view, you have to climb a whole bunch more stairs -I almost cried! But once we did get to the top, it was amazing and beautiful. Seriously, it was so mind boggling to see their city in the clouds, with incredibly steep agricultural terraces going down the mountain. It´s crazy!! We took the whole tour using our Lonely Planet (I´m telling you, these books pay themselves off).
Although I´ve seen pictures of Machu Picchu countless times, it was awesome to be there in person, and explore, and see all their amazing tools and ways of life. And the view of all the other mountains

surrounding was so impressive, no picture can ever capture how small you feel in the midst of these mighty mountains, with the rushing river waaaaaaayyyyy below you.
We had been told food wasn´t allowed, so we didn´t bring any (although everyone else around us did!) And our bananas could only last us so long, so by the time early afternoon came around, it was time to go before Jordi started devouring stray dogs and small children. We didn´t want to pay for the Disneyland priced bus, so we decided to walk all the way back down. My muscles were so exausted, my whole body shook any time I stood still. We finally got back to the town, and went to a really pretty hotel on the river for lunch (with all the money we saved not taking the bus!)
We had a couple hours to kill before our train ride back, so we walked around the town a bunch, got iced coffees, and the highlight - a massage! For $8 each we got a half hour massage, complete with Andean flutes playing the theme song to Titanic as our soothing soundtrack.
Before we got on the train we went to a hole in the wall Peruvian place for wheat soup, arroz con pollo (which was really a plate of arroz and 3 small bites of pollo) and mate.
Two hours later we were home, immediately took hot showe