Sunday, 7 September 2014
This morning I walked to the train station to catch the 11.15 train to Aguas Calientes, the town nearest to Machu Picchu. Aguas Calientes literally means hot water in Spanish, it is famous for its hot spring. Apart from that, there is really not much else to do here because this is really the stop over town to Machu Picchu. The train ride was for about 1 1/2 hours, and the scenery was beautiful, we travelled along the Urubamba River which is a tributary of the Amazon River. So we were surrounded by mountains, the sky was blue with the whitest clouds, the sun was shining bright and the Urubamba River flowed along its merry way. It was quite an enjoyable ride.
I don't know why, but I was in a bit of a foul mood today, a large part of it was caused by no electricity in the hotel I stayed in last night for the better part of the evening before, and this morning. Then, since my train was only at 11.15 am, I went to have breakfast late, and the eggs had run out. There was another couple who came after me, and the hostess asked them in Spanish whether they wanted eggs, and fried 2 eggs for them. Nasty creep. What about me?? But I let it go and soon after that I went to the train station.
Then when I arrived at Aguas Calientes, nobody was waiting for me, so I asked a policewoman for directions and she proceeded to give me directions in Spanish. When I asked her if I could walk there, she ignored me (I got the impression that she thought she had already done her job and she would not say any more). This also irritated me, but again, I let it go. I managed to find my hotel, and then the hotel host informed me that he had mixed up the dates, he thought I was arriving yesterday and waited for me at the train station yesterday. Good for him!
At least my room had a window overlooking the Urubamba River. I think I will sleep soundly tonight with the sound of the river gently flowing by. After I had settled in, just as I was about to walk around town, it started raining. So my bad mood continued. But then, I am always restless when I travel so I walked the 4 corners of the town, in the damn rain! I bought some souvenirs (it is, after all, Machu Picchu), and then I bumped into Rafaela, one of the Italian girls I had become friends with. She was alone, and when I asked her where Imma was, she said they had gone their separate ways and was to meet in Machu Picchu at 4 pm but Imma didn't show up. I knew there was some animosity between them, whenever I was alone with one of them they would complain about the other, but I never thought they would actually go their separate ways alone! How sad. And now I don't know what will happen to their friendship, and I hope they will remain friends even if they decide never to travel together again.
I also bought some food and came back to the hotel at around 7 pm. I'm going to take a hot shower and try to go to bed because I have an early day tomorrow. I will pray to Apu (the God of the mountains) to stop the rain tomorrow, at least until after I'd seen Machu Picchu. If it rains tomorrow, I think I might cry.
This morning I walked to the train station to catch the 11.15 train to Aguas Calientes, the town nearest to Machu Picchu. Aguas Calientes literally means hot water in Spanish, it is famous for its hot spring. Apart from that, there is really not much else to do here because this is really the stop over town to Machu Picchu. The train ride was for about 1 1/2 hours, and the scenery was beautiful, we travelled along the Urubamba River which is a tributary of the Amazon River. So we were surrounded by mountains, the sky was blue with the whitest clouds, the sun was shining bright and the Urubamba River flowed along its merry way. It was quite an enjoyable ride.
I don't know why, but I was in a bit of a foul mood today, a large part of it was caused by no electricity in the hotel I stayed in last night for the better part of the evening before, and this morning. Then, since my train was only at 11.15 am, I went to have breakfast late, and the eggs had run out. There was another couple who came after me, and the hostess asked them in Spanish whether they wanted eggs, and fried 2 eggs for them. Nasty creep. What about me?? But I let it go and soon after that I went to the train station.
Then when I arrived at Aguas Calientes, nobody was waiting for me, so I asked a policewoman for directions and she proceeded to give me directions in Spanish. When I asked her if I could walk there, she ignored me (I got the impression that she thought she had already done her job and she would not say any more). This also irritated me, but again, I let it go. I managed to find my hotel, and then the hotel host informed me that he had mixed up the dates, he thought I was arriving yesterday and waited for me at the train station yesterday. Good for him!
At least my room had a window overlooking the Urubamba River. I think I will sleep soundly tonight with the sound of the river gently flowing by. After I had settled in, just as I was about to walk around town, it started raining. So my bad mood continued. But then, I am always restless when I travel so I walked the 4 corners of the town, in the damn rain! I bought some souvenirs (it is, after all, Machu Picchu), and then I bumped into Rafaela, one of the Italian girls I had become friends with. She was alone, and when I asked her where Imma was, she said they had gone their separate ways and was to meet in Machu Picchu at 4 pm but Imma didn't show up. I knew there was some animosity between them, whenever I was alone with one of them they would complain about the other, but I never thought they would actually go their separate ways alone! How sad. And now I don't know what will happen to their friendship, and I hope they will remain friends even if they decide never to travel together again.
I also bought some food and came back to the hotel at around 7 pm. I'm going to take a hot shower and try to go to bed because I have an early day tomorrow. I will pray to Apu (the God of the mountains) to stop the rain tomorrow, at least until after I'd seen Machu Picchu. If it rains tomorrow, I think I might cry.
No comments:
Post a Comment