Finally the update!!

We arrived in Cusco, and got to our hotel in time to go to bed and get up the next morning at 3:00am!! We had to catch the bus to go to Ollyantambo where we caught the train to Machu Piccu. We arrived in the town very early in the morning and even the vendors weren't set up yet! A miracle--I didn't think they ever slept....Anyway....We got on the bus that took us WAY up the mountain to the top where the ruins are. As you look at these photos above of the mountains look at how high up we are--the bus took us to the top and the road was very narrow and you pass trucks and other busses all the time--very scary! The ruins were so much bigger and the square footage of the area was amazing. In the first two photos you can see a mountain in the background that is typically in the photos of Machu Piccu. It is the "younger" mountain, not Machu (older) mountain. There is a stairway that goes to the top of this mountain and it is very trecherous and steep. They only allow 450 people on it at a time, and the stairs at the top are about 4 inches wide and 12 or more inches deep. You can't put your whole foot on it. When you get to the top, there are three boulders to sit on and that's all. You get your picture taken and come back down. Four members of our tour group made the climb, but since it was almost one in the afternoon and we hadn't eaten since 3:00am, we decided not to try it (that would be Tami and I)--Alora and Duane had no interest in it at all. Tami sincerely regrets that decision, but after hearing about it, I think I made the right choice--not so great on heights, or falls for that matter!