We made it!!! After several days of uncertainty with the strike and protests, we caught the train and made it to Machu Picchu Town very late - nearly midnight. We had to be up at 4 a.m. for breakfast in order to get in line for the bus to take us to the archeological site at 5 to 5:15. It took about 25 minutes to get up the mountain. After getting through the ticket line, we started into the site. It took about 10 minutes of walking uphill on the Inca stone steps and then it levels off and there it is - in all its glory - Machu Picchu. There are no words that can describe the awesomeness of it. 
In July 1911, Hiram Bingham, a professor from Yale, "discovered" Machu Picchu, although discovered is not quite a correct word, as there was a family living near the site continuously since the Incans left the site. It was very overgrown with brush, probably keeping it largely hidden. Bingham built a train going to the site and excavation began.
The site is divided into several sections, agricultural, platforms, guardhouse, Intipunku "The door of the Sun", an upper cemetery and ritual rock, barracks,and urban life. We learned about the major parts of the city and its significance of each.
After our guided tour, we had to exit the site and reenter - when one group went to the Sun Gate while the rest went to the Inca Bridge (both parts of the Inca Trail). Each student got to choose which hike they would take. After completing these hikes, it was back down the mountain for lunch and some free time in the city before catching the train back to Cusco. It seems that protestors had once again blocked the trains coming and going from Machu Picchu and we were hoping to make it out. Luckily, the situation resolved rather quickly and trains resumed running with only about a 1-1/2 hour delay.
Once back at our hotel in Cusco, they had boxed dinners waiting for us at reception, all our bags already in our rooms and the kids were ready for a good nights sleep to be ready for Lake Titikaka.
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