Machu Picchu Town, Aguas Caliente

   

  We got off the train at Aguas Caliente, the other name for Machu Picchu Town. They use Aguas Caliente in order to differentiate between the city and the ruins. And I suppose there is no changing the name of the ruins at this point. The town was kind of...charming. I had told the boys that under no circumstances would we be buying anything in Machu Picchu....of course we did...but that is another story... Our hotel in AC was quite lovely and a definite step up from our hostel in Cusco. They boys were fairly impressed with the new living quarters.  

 

One thing I noticed in AC is that there were signs for free wifi EVERYWHERE. More than any place else we have visited before and since then. Weird to be in such a remote place and to have such a variety of places to hook up your mobile devices. 

 

Side note: none of that wifi has helped me with my photo/blog problem.

 

Second side note: this might be the place to talk about the importance of wifi to me and James, but most importantly for the boys. They report that overall, the wifi "has been better"...or in other words, "very bad". We have had a lot of discussion and preoccupation with wifi signals on this trip...It's been amusing that their first question at every new place we visit is "do they have wifi?" Having said all that, I am at this minute using the "sort of ok" wifi at our Huacachinero Hotel. 

 

Getting back to the city of AC. It is nestled in a small valley in the Andes, and so the whole city is built UPWARDS and within a few square blocks. The city spans a gorge and so there are three walking bridges that you can use to cross from one side of the city to the other. There were not many (any?) cars that I saw. When I asked how to get to the museum, I was told we could walk. It was only 40 minutes or so away. We never made it there. Speaking of walking, there was A LOT of walking uphill. I suppose there was walking downhill too, but I never really noticed that. I was quite charmed by the city. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I ask Mateo about AC, he says, "terrifying" because of the flying ants, which I think were a kind of bee. He liked the Hollywood-esquire city sign. 

 

 

Diego's thoughts:

 

1. The buses are terrible. Even thought Machu Picchu is only 8 KM away, it takes 30 minutes by bus to reach the ruins. The buses should go faster and they should be careful about what they are running into (see dog incident in earlier post).

2. I really enjoyed the market. 

3. The train ride was very enjoyable.

4.  The hotels were top quality. (And in his words: "the hotel makes half the v-cay.")

 

 

 

A note about getting to Machu Picchu Ruins- after getting to Cusco, then getting to the train (or the Inca Trail) and making it to AC, you still need to ride a bus up to the ruin which is 8 KM away--all UP HILL. The bus makes this climb in a series of switchbacks up the mountain. The buses were amazingly organized, leaving every few minutes up and down all day. I have no idea how many people they transport. I purchased tickets for the 4 of us for 2 days (4 trips) and the cost was 500 sol (220$ CDN). Not cheap. Then,  of course, there is the cost of admission into the site - another $300-ish CDN per day for the 4 of us. It's quite a trip to make, both geographically and financially. But worth it! More on that later.