As I mentioned, we were blessed by the sun god and welcomed atop Machu Picchu with clear skies, bright light, and minimal crowds. I took many, many pictures and will share a few more today. Our guided tour took about two hours. About this time, clouds started forming again and the crowds were growing. We felt it was a good time to head back to town.
We walked around the market with some of our group for a bit after stopping for coffee. Most of the tourists were still at Machu Picchu, so we were able once again to avoid the masses. After shopping, we met our group again for a final meal and jumped on the train. The train...well, the train is where today's story really begins.
The train ride started off innocently enough. Thanks to my father-in-law, I was given a variety of lessons on unsafe rail operations...I think it's summed up as 'don't do what the Peruvians do.' One picture below should be a random guy running down the tracks after another train departed. We also had to come to a near full stop over a cow on the tracks and witnessed all manner of people sort of pushing their luck with rail crossings. Don't worry, no cows were harmed to tell this story.
Well, somewhat before the cow incident, Peru Rail decided what we really needed was a fashion show! The music on the train went to an upbeat dance rhythm as what was once a man serving our drinks came dancing down the aisle in ceremonial garb. He was followed by a woman wearing a designer poncho strolling through the train car like a runway model, coming back and forth in different outfits. Not to be outdone, another man strolled by to display various men's garments. Meanwhile the ceremonial guy is running and dancing along the aisle clapping sort of in tune to the music. Don't worry, though, even one of the passengers joined in and helped with the modelling. I should probably also mention the train was stopped while we watched most of the show (possibly to allow another train to pass..).
With the fashion show over, we headed on toward our final stop. We were switching to a bus for what should have been the last hour or so of our ride back to Cusco. Alas...
We weren't in the bus for more than 5 minutes before we found ourselves stuck in the worst traffic jam I have ever seen. At first we thought it was just caused by two large trucks that couldn't pass one another on a narrow street. Well, we soon found the real cause: several giant trucks hauling construction vehicles turned the only road out of town into a one-lane parking lot.
This is where the madness began. People started abandoning their vehicles to walk on foot. Vendors strolled among the cars selling their wares to frustrated travelers. Drivers of all sorts left their trucks and vans to see if they could somehow fix the gridlock, or relieve themselves on the front of their vehicles, or maybe just to talk. We witnessed this madness for about an hour. Meanwhile, the clouds were rolling in, and a steady rain was falling.
Well, the Peruvians eventually got cars moved and roads cleared. Forward progress was then stalled only by rain and amusing stops to find a bathroom. To keep our spirits up (or alleviate boredom), our Scottish friends led the group through broken verses of a dozen or more songs.
We did finally make it to Cusco and the land of free WiFi, but most of the rest of the trip is a blur. It was a strange end to an awesome trip.
At any rate, more pics below; apologies for the rather long post. ;)
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