The AMAZING Machu Piccu

Morning folks, how y´all doing? Yesterday we went to the Machu Picchu, it was STUNNING, I have never seen anything so amazing in my life!
We went by train which takes about 4 hours, as the same with everywhere in Sth America we had to go through the mountains and the train often has to switch back on itself, so often you see the same scenery twice.
We had to be at the train station for 6:30 for a 7am departure, needless to say we were a bit tired, it was really cold too.
The train that we caught is called "The Backpacker Train" and is only available to backpackers, locals catch a different train which is less than half what the tourists have to pay.
We thought the train would be a bit dodgy but we were wrong, it was really nice and clean, you could even see out of the windows!!
The only problem we did have was leg room, or at least the lack of it.
Peruvians are really small so the trains are not really designed for anybody over 5´ft, anyway it was ok, I think we were that excited about the day that we didn´t really care.
We arrived at about 11am and then had to take the bus for about 20 minutes up the windy and steep roads to the ruins.
The drive was a bit of a hair raiser, one of those where you look out of the window and see a massive drop to the side of you!!!
Nothing can prepare you for the spectacular views and the ruins, no matter how much you read about it and how many pictures and postcards you see, nothing comes close to actually seeing it for yourself.
We have took lots and lots of pictures so I hope you get an idea how amazing it is, the only thing the camera can´t capture is the height.
So I´ll give you a few facts about Machu Picchu:
It is located in the district of Machupicchu, province of Urubamba. 72.5 miles by train, NW of Cusco. It is 2,432 metres above sea level. It has a semi tropical climate, and it has two marked seasons, dry:from April-October and rainy: from November-March.
The ruins were only actually discovered in 1911 by a North American Professor, Hiram Bingham who at the time was researching about the Military Campaigns of the liberator Simon Bolivar in Sth America.
Accompanied by Sergeant Carrasco his translator they started their journey through Cusco and through the sacred valley of the Incas, following the direction of the Urubamba River, they then arrived at a place called Mandorpampa in the Hacienda Cutija where they met a farmer called Melchor Artega.
Hiram Bingham gave the farmer a tip of one coin, the farmer then gave him information about the existance of some ruins at the top of "The Old Mountain" (which means Machu Picchu)
When they actually arrived at the ruins they found two farmers who were living there with their families, and were growing crops in some parts of the Inca Terraces.
It was one of the children of the farmer who actually led the professor into the archaeological remains.
On July 24th 1911, they first arrived to the Royal Tomb and then went on to discover the other ruins.
In 1912 Hiram Bingham organised a new expedition with specialists in Osteology, Natural Science, excavations and surveys and assistance to explore and to work in the cleaning and the archaelogical research.
Since then the Peruvian Government assumed the conservation of the Machu Picchu through the National Institute of Culture, this is now the official entity responsible for the conservation of this Peruvian Cultural Patrimony.

Peru really is an amazing place with a great culture, I would urge anybody to take a holiday here as there is so much to see and do.
It is also so cheap, leather and art and crafts are practically given away, clothing is also cheap, with most of the main brands sold at half the price that we would pay at home.
Peru is a lot more geared up towards Tourism too, unlike Ecuador which is an amazing country but not quite as appealing for a holiday.
We are leaving Cusco today for Arequipa, looking forward to moving on now as we have been in Cusco since Sunday, we will travel on the overnight bus tonight, it´s one of the luxury one´s with beds on!!
We got chatting to a couple of Brits on Wednesday who emigrated to Oz over 30 years ago, they are about the same age as our parents and they travel every 5-6 months.
This trip they have 4 months out and have started in Sydney, NZ, Easter Islands, Sth America, Miami, NY, Canada and then to see family in the UK!
It´s great that even at that age they are still getting out and about and seeing the world.
They have a son the same age as Matt who has been travelling for 9 years, obviously he has to work to support himself.
Anyway they have invited us over when we are in Oz in November, they live in Adelaide and said they would love to see us to hear about our travels and to down a few Ozzie beers and show us some good beauty spots that aren´t really on the map.
So we have got their address details and will probably look them up.
They also mentioned about how lucky Brits are at the moment with the strength of the pound (which we know anyway as we are having a great time of it)
At the moment the Ozzie Dollar is worth 40p against the Pound, which means they are in for an expensive time of it when they do come over.
Anyway that´s about it for today..
One last thing, just to say CONGRATULATIONS to everybody in my old team at Kitchen Science who last night won the NMA Retail Website of the year award for 2007, Im not really sure what that means for KS, but they were getting pi55ed up at The Grosvenor in Park Lane so it must be a good one!!
Well done all, Im glad tohave being part of the teams success, no doubt you´re all nursing hangovers today, lightweights!!!