World wonders, fog and train shamans

After countless bus rides on gravel roads in sometimes not very comfortable buses with dirty toilets, we are already excited on our way to the train station: we are taking a train! And not just any train, but the Panorama Peru Rail train with food and shaman entertainment (more on that later)!!!!! When the train arrives, we naturally take the first selfies and enthusiastically take our seats. It all feels a bit like home, although the German railway cannot quite compete with this fancy vehicle. In our 4-person seating ensemble, another lady takes a seat-or is this an undercover investigator? It's not clear, because the person is completely disguised and wearing sunglasses. She seems to find Lisa just as bizarre, because by chance both sides of the camera shutter release.

With mystical musical accompaniment, we leave the Ollantaytambo train station and wind our way towards Aguas Calientes, the town below Machu Picchu. The landscape is as expected wonderful, we drive along the river and are surrounded by tall mountains and dense jungle. We also have tea and carrot cake, which our fellow passenger inspects with her gloved fingers and does not touch. The three clowns of course have their fun- after all, you don't ride this train every day.

When we arrive in Aguas Calientes and go to our hotel that we booked 5 days ago, the fun stops for now, because the disinterested lady at the reception cannot find our reservation. After Lisa shows her the booking confirmation, the reservation seems to appear somewhere - but it doesn't matter because the hotel is fully booked due to renovation works (which we had already noticed, as large iron parts fell from the 2nd floor almost hitting Sebastian). The lady doesn't care that we are now without a roof over our heads. However, we are lucky in our misfortune, because we find a last-minute bargain at a hotel that turns out to be much nicer than the originally booked one. Finally settled in our room, we go out for a delicious meal and then go to bed. Tomorrow we have to get up early.

At 5:30 a.m., the first bus from Aguas Calientes goes up to Machu Picchu. Fixed seats cannot be booked, here it is first come, first served. Naturally, all the tourists think the same, so there is already a long line in front of the bus station at 4:30 a.m. We warm ourselves up with coca tea and wait. Shortly before half past five, the first convoy of buses arrives and swallows up the head of the queue. Soon it's our turn and we are carried up through misty clouds and narrow serpentine roads.

Once we arrive at the top, we see nothing at first except: crowds of people! Hopefully, they will disperse soon. After showing our tickets, we have to walk uphill for a while until we catch a glimpse of a part of the famous scenery from countless postcards and photos...the ruins of Machu Picchu. It is still cool and the entire mountain is covered with thick fog, but that is about to change. First, we want to go to the Sun Gate, which is a good hour's walk from the ruins and is supposed to offer a breathtaking view. We are going uphill again, over rocks and stones, until we reach the Sun Gate. But where is the sun? It hasn't shown itself yet. Instead, there is plenty of fog, which extends like a wall right in front of us and initially does not reveal even a millimeter of the mountain panorama in the surrounding area. It is not until we decide to turn back that the fog kindly opens its wall shortly in front of us, before promptly closing it again.

Now we continue up the mountain to admire the ruins from above. The steep ascent is a sporty business, so we soon decide to spend more time down by the ruins. By now it is warm and sunny, so we find a spot on the grass and enjoy the view of the ruins and the llamas.

At 12 o'clock, it is time for the first group of tourists to leave, and we join the flow towards the exit. We walk back down through the jungle to Aguas Calientes. It was beautiful!

Before we board the train back to Cusco, we have a hearty lunch with quinoa soup, vegetable rice, and potatoes because we are all tired and hungry. On the return journey, we have the 4-person seating group all to ourselves and we lean back and relax. Wait a minute. What's happening now? Where is the loud music coming from? Suddenly, a...no one knows exactly what kind of being this person is supposed to represent...costumed person with a mask and colorful clothes jumps through the train, makes strange noises, and encourages the passengers to clap and take photos. Yay, we Germans love clapping. After the spectacle finally ends, the next event is a fashion show! The train staff dress up in chic alpaca sweaters and ponchos, which are then pushed through the train carriages on a clothes rack for us to buy.

After this exciting train ride, we look forward to our beautiful home in Cusco-La Bohème.