March 13 Sacred Valley Machu Picchu

 Marvel at the dramatic scenery and life along the river en route this morning by train to Machu
Picchu, the Inca royal retreat famously introduced to the world by Hiram Bingham in the April
1913 issue of National Geographic magazine. Check-in at the historic 31-room Belmond
Sanctuary Lodge, adjacent to the World Heritage site, with the leisure to explore over two days
in the company of our hand-picked tour director and local guides. Lunch and dinner at the
hotel.
We drove to within 2 blocks of the train station. We walked the rest passing shopping and a little river. We had a short wait for our train. Someone in the train waiting areas was playing let it be on an accordion.
Lovely viewsWe saw Veronica glacier which is at 19k ft. 
      We passed the start of the Inca
 trail. It is 27 miles and takes 4 days. So glad we are taking the train. As we descended we found we were in a rainforest with orchids and ferns and vines.
We stopped for a short walk around Machu Picchu town.
       Then we took a bus to Machu. A steep scary bus ride. We thought the Rockies were steep, Holy mackerel The walls are vertical!
     We ended up at the sanctuary hotel where they gave us a lovely buffet lunch. Then they allowed us to check into our hotel room. We have about 40 minutes until we have to be in the lobby to climb up to Machu Picchu. 
      Our room is lovely. It even has a pillow menu. We have a veranda with table and chairs and lounge chairs. We think we've acquired new water bottles as well. There are some silver water bottles with the hotel name on them. There is a lovely little note welcoming us. We have a bottle of pillow mist. And little candies or soaps we're not sure which. They're chocolates.
We actually went over to Machu Picchu finally. The entrance is literally 50 ft from our hotel. it is literally a rainforest. There's moss and orchids. Really cool! That's a stone ladder to get between the levels of terraces.
we saw llamas on the wild! Well not really in the wild. They keep the grass eaten down on all the terraces.this is our whole group another stone ladder that's more intact. They call them floating steps. and then we saw a centipede last view for today
Edgar and Juan Carlos ate dinner with us tonight.Mine was cheese ravioli and a piece of meat. Paul's was short ribs. Joi's dessert was cherimoya two ways and Paul had ice cream.
 

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