Machu Picchu

It is very weird to arrive in a town (Agua Calientes) which has a railway track running through it. You have to step over the rails to get from one side to the other. It is very reminiscent of the old wild west towns and as we found out this place is rip off city and so it really is the wild west!! The first hostel, which we had booked, was right above the railway line and they tried to tell us the trains did not run at night but we knew better and they do run at night!!. We got cheated right left and centre by the restaurants of (we named it) rip off town. They tried to charge us service charge and tax after agreeing a menu price. There is no such tax and the service charge should always show on the menu.
There are wonderful thermal baths in Agua Calientes (Hot Waters). The walk up to the thermal baths was very steep and exhausting so having a bath was refreshing.
We had to queue early for the bus around 5.30 am to get to Machu Picchu and the queue was amazingly long at that time in the morning. We had decided to do the Huayna Pichu trail which in itself is a steep hike but as we had decided we wanted to see the Temple of the Moon (although you are not allowed to call it that anymore) we made our walk doubly hard. It was a difficult hike, both up and down to the Temple and at one point we had to climb ladders. The effort was worthwhile and took a few hours but we saw old Inka steps and ruins which had not been restored (much better). At times we were in dense cloud forest. The vegetation was wonderful and we got unusual views of Machu Picchu.
Machu Picchu was an amazing site but had grown out of recognition since I had last seen it due to heavy restoration.