Day 12 / July 2, 2013 The train was scheduled to leave at 8:56 am, so we were up for an early breakfast and transferred to the Ollantaytambo station. These trains leave on time and as the last of our group boarded, the agents checked my ticket and said “NO GO!” Sheila, our local guide was there to pick up the pieces, politely jumped the line at the ticket booth and dealt with the problem. Just as the train was pulling away from the station, we were given the ok for me to board! Whew! That was a close call, but our local people are well connected and work wonders in any potential crisis. The train ride was beautiful and scenic and our entire group enjoyed the great views from the many windows on the Vistadome train. On arrival to the Aguas Calientes train station at approximately 11 am, we walked through the many tourist booths with a wide array of souvenirs, to the waiting buses for the 30 minute bus ride to the top of the mountain and the Machu Picchu entrance. One will also find the Sanctuary Lodge at the top, built before any government regulations prohibiting the building of hotels.  They serve a daily buffet lunch that we was included in the program. For this particular group, we decided to eat early before going to visit the ruins. Whichever order you do it in, the buffet is excellent and the ruins do not disappoint. It was by far the highlight of the trip and our entire group was extremely impressed and awestruck with the visit to this important historical site. The headsets work wonderfully and Sheila was an intelligent, informative guide with a sense of humor.   We took the expedition train (not the Vistadome train) back to Ollantaytambo which was a nice experience. There isn't as much personal space, but we all had the opportunity to mingle and meet people outside of our group. We arrived to Ollantaytambo and boarded our bus to Yucay for our last night in the Sacred Valley. Next post >> Previous post >> Learn more about this program >>