After a brief interruption, my Peru adventure series is back. We last left off on a full day at the Urubamba property. The next day we had to be up early for a morning train ride to Aguas Calientes, the town of Machu Picchu.

We hopped on PeruRail and found our seats in the Panoramic Car, which had large windows and skylights for the ultimate views of the surrounding mountains and scenery. Throughout the ride we had unbelievable views of mountains, rivers and the lush scenery that surrounded us. After a quick, two-hour ride, we arrived at the train station in Aguas Calientes.

We were greeted by the friendly concierge team from Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel, there to take our luggage so we didn’t have to lug suitcases during the 10-minute walk to our hotel. Once on the hotel’s property, we decided we were hungry and wanted to have a quick lunch at Café Inkaterra, which was delicious.

When we finished lunch, we headed to the lobby where we were welcomed with a delicious welcome drink of green tea made from leaves grown on the property. While we were enjoying our drink, the hotel concierge gave us the lowdown of the hotel, what amenities were included, what excursions were offered on the property and more. After, we were given our keys and guided to our rooms to settle in before our first activity.

Our first activity was a walk through the onsite Orchid Trail, but we got distracted on the way because we saw beautiful hummingbirds hanging around the feeders. I love hummingbirds, and they were bigger than the ones I see at home, so I was excited. After admiring the birds, we headed to the Orchid Trail. We were right at the end of the blooming period, so not all the flowers were there but we still got to see a variety of different orchid species. If you are there in the prime season, you could see more than 327 different species of orchids. We saw some of the tiniest orchids that wouldn’t even show up on camera. Even though we didn’t get to see all the species, it was still worth it.

Once we were done with the walk, we headed back to our rooms for a small break where we could finish settling in, shower and get ready for dinner at The Dining Room & Bar. At dinner I started with a French onion soup, followed by steak with fettuccine Alfredo and ending with some ice cream.

We didn’t have a night excursion because we had to leave for the bus stop at 5 a.m. for our journey to Machu Picchu. Stay tuned for Part Seven, all about Machu Picchu!

— Mary Melnick, social media & editorial manager