Do you guys want to see something real? Machu Picchu, Peru

Hostal Caminantes when you enter Aguas Calientes, right off the train tracks 10 soles x person

We opted for the cheap option to visit Machu Picchu, which involves not-so-comfortable buses, waking up early to hike a lot and sharing rooms :) But it was amazing!

Day 1
5:20am Wake up. Lori and I are sharing a bed because it´s soooooo cold in Cuzco. 6am Leave Cuzco Hostal, eat a rice, egg and french fry breakfast in the market (which our Swedish friend Peter said "I can´t eat french fries this early, and definitely not without Rhode Island Sauce!"
7:20am Arrive at bus station (too late... the ol´ hurry up and wait trick)
8:30am Leave for a windy, unpaved trip to Santa Maria
8:40-8:42am Listen to man telling his sad life story and selling candies
8:43-9:00am Listen to different man (similar sad story?) selling all healing, all curing, all natural Peruvian cream. 4 soles to cure every problem we could have? I think it even promises you´ll find true love or something.
9:01am Lori says "I have all those problems he´s describing!" (Especially the love problems.)
9:02am We buy the miracle product anticipating the activities we have ahead of us.
9:05-10:05am Listen to different man selling math books, science books and Spanish dictionaries. We lose his trivia questions (Percentages were invented in the 1600s, not the 1500s... why do we need to know this?)
10:05am Peace and quiet finally!
10:06am-2:00pm We try our best to keep our breakfast down (at a pee stop, I have to say that I´ve never seen so many people pee squatting (in their long skirts), pee standing and vomiting... great.)
2:00pm We arrive to Santa Maria. Phewf!
2:10pm We board a van to the Hydroelectric Plant about 2 hours away.
2:11pm I chat it up with the driver as we fly around death defying curves on the edges of cliffs.
2:15pm Lori tells me to shut up and let the man drive. Yeah, I was just going to do that.
4:00pm We arrive at the Hydroelectric Plant, we pray for a moment, thanking God that we arrived in one piece.
4:15pm We start walking the 7km hike to Aguas Calientes (Walking on train tracks isn´t as much fun as it seems in the movies.)
6:30pm It´s getting dark. Is that a tunnel ahead? Thank God for our two valiant Swedes! As we are leaving the second tunnel (and I´ve practically peed my pants from fear) Peter tells me he was glad I was there with him because he felt safer. He doesn´t know me very well :)
6:45pm We arrive to our decent hostal and pay 10 soles each to share a room between the four of us... Eat... Sleep.
3:30am I wake up Dan with my mindless sleep talking. This time it´s a caveman pick up line. "OK, here we go. You´re a good looking male and I´m a good looking female." And they say Americans are to the point... no... :) I think that wins the award for the Best Nerd Pick Up Line ever. What was I dreaming about?

Day 2
4:20am After one alarm clock beep, Peter springs out of bed, proclaiming "Good Morning!" Lori and I are shocked, we´ve never in our lives woken up in this prompt manner.
5am We´re in line to buy bus tickets. Why is this so chaotic? Isn´t this a Wonder of the World, shouldn´t this be more organized??!?!? Wait... It´s Peru and it´s 5am... EVERYONE RELAX!!
6am We arrive to Machu Picchu.
6:01-10:10am WOW! Our mouths hang open in awe. We spend these hours admiring in amazement how this beautiful place could have been constructed! Lori incessantly videotapes "the edge." Fear of heights maybe? :)
10:11am We being the climb to Wayna Picchu. Our mouths are still hanging open but mostly from the panting and heavy breathing from the steep, exhausting climb.
11am We arrive at the top of Wayna Picchu (2600m) to find more ruins. We´re on the top of a tiny, steep, jutting mountain folks... how can these ruins be here!?!? Lori´s still thinking about the edge :)
12pm We begin the climb back down. Did the Incas have really small feet? These are the smallest, steepest, highest stairs we´ve ever seen. Pee-your-pants material my friends.
1pm Pooped with a capital P, we eat lunch. Thankfully we brought our own lunch, but we did have to breakdown and buy a 10 sol bottle of water (Aren´t we paying 10 soles for our hostal?)
2:30pm We start the hike back to the hostal with our spaghetti legs.
3:45pm We arrive at the hostal. Shower. Nap. Eat. Drink. Sleep. Oh, that was real good!

Day 3
5:40am Alarm clock doesn´t beep because Dan set this time for 5:30pm. No, it can´t be! It´s toooo early!! Even Peter doesn´t jump up. Are we in hell?
6:30am We´re back on the train tracks. 7km to the Hydroelectric Plant.
9am We squeeze into a crappy station wagon with 8 other people (including some friendly Brazilian hippies)
9:30am We´re back on Death Road. No distractions this time, I´m sitting in the back of the wagon between Dan and some backpacks... asleep.
11am We arrive to Santa Maria.
11:02am Yipee! Here comes the bus! They don´t let us on. What?!?
11:03am-2pm The ol´ hurry up and wait trick. We eat breakfast, talk sleepy nonsense and wait for the next bus. We play a card game we learned from our Thanksgiving American friends, Dan and Paul. Wait. Invent a card game. Wait. Talk nonsense (Didn´t we do this already?) Wait.
2:40pm Bus comes! We get on and happily begin our trip home.
2:50pm People come on the bus with tickets for our seats. No problem, we´ll stand for a bit.
3:30pm We´re still standing. We´re sure a seat will open up any minute now.
3:35pm We meet some nice (also standing) Polish guys. We share interesting conversation.
4:10pm Lori´s feeling nauseous. Still no seats. Convo with Polish guys becomes dull.
5:00pm Road gets windier. Lori feels sicker. Still no seats. Polish weather discussion begins.
6:00pm Our legs have locked in the standing position.
7:00pm I´m thinking about punching someone for a seat.
8:00pm $?!Ñ¡*!!!!!!!!!
9:00pm Off the bus, in a taxi. We have to keep the doors open because our legs won´t bend due to excessive standing. (Just kidding.)

Back to hostal. Shower. Eat bad hamburgers. Go dancing (I don´t honestly know how we´re still using our legs.) Sleep.

Machu Picchu $100 (Not including celebration drinks or a massage :)

3 days of amazingness and fun with Peter and Dan, priceless :):)