Oy.

It's Independence day, here in Peru.
But, surprisingly, it has been much more mild than either Ryan or myself had expected.

After sleeping in for the first time in days, Ryan and I woke to go meet some friends for brunch. However, just before we were about to leave Victor said that if we wanted to go to Machu Picchu then one of us needed to go with him to the train station to figure all of the details out. So, Ryan went with Victor and I went off to meet up with our friends.

However, when I arrived at our agreed upon meeting place I was surprised to find the building all locked up. So, having no way to contact anyone, I decided I would just go out for a leisurely stroll through the shops to try and find some gifts for my wonderful family. I had a few successes :)

I then returned back to Victor's to find that Ryan was out searching for me (or, more specifically, my passport number) so we could book our visit to Machu Picchu. So, I waited for Ryan to return and then we attempted to book our reservation with little success. Unfortunately, since Machu Picchu has a restriction on the number of visitors it allows each day (2,500) and since it is Peruvian Independence week it is nearly impossible to get tickets.

Until yesterday we were able to get train tickets up to Machu Picchu for $142 however this did not include the entrance fee which we were told was impossible to book online. However, after Ryan's meeting today we found that we could book tickets online. So, finally, after much ado, we booked our tickets into Machu Picchu. Then, for the easy part--- or so we had thought-- booking the train.

For, it would seem that, since yesterday, all affordable train tickets have been sold leaving only the $390 train tickets on the luxury train.

Despairing at this steep price we searched for any other possible solution and came up with one: we could take the train there, and then on the return trip only take the train halfway back and then take a taxi back into the city. This plan would shave $150 off the price. So, we decided to go for it. Only to have our booking rejected 3 different times.

So, our current situation is that we have tickets into Machu Picchu but no way to get there. It we are able to get tickets we will be leaving Puno tomorrow night. If not...I'm not really sure. I'll keep you posted.