Today was the day that most of our tour group had been waiting for, the trip to Machu Picchu. We'd taken the cheats way of using the 90 minute train journey to Aguas Calientes yesterday afternoon. We were worried yesterday that we might not get here at all, a teachers strike was happening & our tour leader told us that the first thing strikers often do is block the train or blockade the entrance to Machu Piccu as it's the best way to get the government to take notice of them. Fortunately, we were unaffected by the strike although one of the buses on the return down from the site was stopped for a short while

Anyway, an 04:45 alarm call had us at the gates of the archaeological site for 06:00 where we found the site enveloped in mist and cloud. After the tour for a couple of hours we had some free time & we climbed to the top of the hill where I sat on the edge of a terrace & exclaimed I wasn't moving until I'd taken the picture that I wanted. It took about 45 minutes for the sun to burn through the cloud & then Huayna Picchu appeared before me.