Machu Picchu

Like going to the statue of liberty, the grand canyon or the great pryamids you must go to Machu Picchu if you are in Peru. The entire trip is built like a sive to siphon off money fromthe throngs of tourists passing thru this spectacular site. Start with the $120 flight to cusco,follow by a $60 to $80 cab ride to Ollantaytambo, follow by what has been billed as the mostexpensive manditory train ride in the world $35 - $125USD, followed by the manditory bus ride for $14, and finally your $45 ticket to get into the park and multiply by the number of peoplein your party and pretty soon you can be into some serious buckage just to see this one sitewith a mob of other tourists all vieing to see the same site. For our family the total cost wasaround $1200. Was it worth it? Probably not, but dispite being sick and it costing so much, I am glad I went.
The site trully is spectacular and I can't imagine thgat there is anything else like it in the world (discovered or not).

Our youth hostel had intermitant water service. With 3 of 4 of us suffereing from travelers diaria we would have apprecieated a consistantly working bathroom.

What is there to say about Machu Picchu that hasn't been said 1000 times before and 1000 timesbetter. We took a guided tour. The was nice to get some of the history of the place. Our favoratepart of the day had to be the climb to the panoramic view. At the top we all stopped and sat for a half hour or so surrounded by Lamas and a few other tourists. We just sat and took in the wonderful view and the wonderful place in the rarified air.