13th May 15 - Machu Picchu - Day One

Flew from Lima to Cusco - yet another 5.00am start! Got on waiting bus to take us to the train to Machu Picchu Then it started to go wrong. We were told that there was a demonstration. We arrived at the first road block of rocks and tyres. But as they hadn't finished building it they let us through. About 10 miles from the station we ran across another, much more substantial road-block. Much more menacing. They started to throw rocks at us. Out tour leader told us to get out of the bus and we walked to the Hotel Rio Sagrado which just happened to be both close and the same chain (Belmond) as the one we were booked in MP. Indeed it was excellent.

But we soon learned that the demonstrations had turned violent. Many tourists were stuck in their buses for 7 hours. They had even stopped the Hiram Bingham train that we had been due to catch with its passengers stuck for 8 hours. So we stayed the night and set off again at 5.00am the following morning before the road-blocks went up again.

We were very lucky!

Some views of the Sacred Valley from the bus.

The Hotel Rio Sagrado in the Sacred Valley was built on the banks of the Urubamba River

The hotel had alpacas in the garden. Elizabeth wanted to take the young ones home!