Leaving Aguas Calientes

The 27th of January was a sad day as we faced the fact that we had to leave Aguas Calientes and to acknowledge that the Machu Picchu leg of our adventure was over. 

We got up and got packed and put our bags into storage while we waited for the time to leave for the train.  We wandered around the city for a time and went for lunch at a restaurant overlooking the river.  A live group came along and played Andean music while we ate our lunch.

 

 

 

At the appointed hour we got on the train which took us back to Cusco where we would spend one night before catching the plane to Puerto Maldonado. 

On the train we had the opportunity to see the wonderful mountain views again and we also had a little bit of entertainment as the crew demonstrated a local dance just before a fashion show where they were trying to drum up some additional business....
We arrived without mishap in Cusco and are both feeling a bit sad that we had to leave the next day.  We thoroughly enjoyed our sacred valley experience...having made some nice memories and despite some of the setbacks (like altitude sickness) we know we will remember this leg of the journey as one filled with learning and with adventure.