252 / First Bus For Machu Picchu

On the three-week tour of South America that I just completed, the "pinnacle" was really right at the end: Machu Picchu.

To get there (unless you're taking the Inka Trail, a four-day trek) you begin at Aguas Calientes, where you can buy a ticket to get into the monument. You also need a bus ticket, and the first bus leaves at 5:30 a.m.

I was up at 4:00 a.m., to make that first bus. Apparently, several hundred other people had the same idea. I ended up on Bus #11.

It was good enough. That's my picture in the illustration (taken on an iPhone), proving to my mind that the reality lives up to the advertisement.