This small boy raced the bus to each bend, cutting off the twists in the road by climbing down the steep paths between them. When the bus reached the bottom, the small boy was not there, and a murmur of disappointment went round the bus. He then appeared from hiding with a huge grin on his face, the bus stopped to let him on, and the perspiring child passed a bag round the passengers to collect his well-earned coins. As we wearily got off the bus at Aguas Calientes, we reflected on one of the more trivial of all the statistics we had heard about Machu Picchu - that there are 109 staircases with 3,000 steps on the site. One piece of advice for any traveller to Machu Picchu - make sure you include an overnight stay in your itinerary if you possibly can.
Most visitors arrive on the tourist train in the morning, returning by train the same afternoon.
By staying overnight, once the bulk of visitors have boarded the train by 2.30, you will find the atmosphere so much more enjoyable and peaceful. And of course you can go back in the morning before the next lot arrive - remember that visitor numbers are increasing now the terrorist threat has lessened. The obvious place to stay is the Hotel Ruinas, because it is just outside the site, although it does not overlook the ruins. However, we would recommend the Hotel Pueblo, where we stayed. Before we left home, we had been told by an acquaintance who is a Peruvian diplomat that however magnificent you expect Machu Picchu to be, it will exceed your expectations ten thousand times over.