Posted by: Jonathan
Success! We made it to Machu Picchu with out taking the train or hiring a guide. We were not alone on our expedition, a laid back Australian (Brendan) and a soccer lovin' German (Patrick) [whom we had met several days before] accompanied us. It isn't an adventure without a few hardships, which our jouney was punctuated with...
- Missing our very first bus out of Cuzco
- Sitting four people across a three person bench seat for five hours of tire screaching, curve hugging mountain terrian
- Sitting four people across a three person bench seat for five hours of tire screaching, curve hugging mountain terrian
- Roads closed due to construction
- Mountain Road Stalemates - when the dirt road is barely wide enough for one car and two cars meet traveling in opposite directions and neither want to reverse back to the nearest turnoff since the dirt edge gives way to a several hundred meter verticle drop with no rails. I haven't decided how they figure out who will back up but there is always a ritualistic exchange of honks, hand gesticulations, and verbal pleasentries.
- Getting to off the beaten path places late and not being able to find anyone who would serve us food - not sure if it was the hour or our color
- Cat waging an epic battle with a chicken chasing it all over the thin metal roof... at 4:30am
- Hostel owner's wife waking us up at 6 am wanting to collect payment for the room so she could go shopping... typical woman
- Crossing multiple knee deep streams that were raging across the road in a Toyota compact car
- Getting out and moving rocks to help the car across a fresh land slide
- Mountain Road Stalemates - when the dirt road is barely wide enough for one car and two cars meet traveling in opposite directions and neither want to reverse back to the nearest turnoff since the dirt edge gives way to a several hundred meter verticle drop with no rails. I haven't decided how they figure out who will back up but there is always a ritualistic exchange of honks, hand gesticulations, and verbal pleasentries.
- Getting to off the beaten path places late and not being able to find anyone who would serve us food - not sure if it was the hour or our color
- Cat waging an epic battle with a chicken chasing it all over the thin metal roof... at 4:30am
- Hostel owner's wife waking us up at 6 am wanting to collect payment for the room so she could go shopping... typical woman
- Crossing multiple knee deep streams that were raging across the road in a Toyota compact car
- Getting out and moving rocks to help the car across a fresh land slide
After all of this we were by no means there, just in the closest town with transport... from there we caught the shoe spring express all the way to Aguas Calientes. We followed the train tracks and river for the two to three hour hike. The soaring mountains on either side were captivating. About mid-afternoon we dragged ourselves into town looking like hobos wondering in on the train tracks dirty, smelly, and carrying our belongings on our backs.
Jenn and I treated ourselves to a nice romantic dinner with drinks (pisco sours are awesome) at a restaraunt perched over the river ($8) and retired early as we had a big day planned.
Our alarm went off at 3:30am and we began the 20 min trek to the lower gate of Machu Picchu (MP) where we waited in queue with a couple hundred others for the gate to open at 4:45am. Like a flash the lower gate was opened and the race to the upper gate was on... only 2km of straight non-stop stairs. Only the first 400 people who arrive at MP (whether hiking or by bus) get a coveted stamp that allows them to hike Wayna Picchu (a separate ruins) which also has great arial views of MP. Also, being in the first 400 means your photos of MP won't have 2,000 tourists crawling over the ruins. Jenn and I were the 5th and 6th person to arrive at the upper gate out of the several hundred (Team USA whoot whoot) and got the stamp and some touristless photos of the lost Inca City - all the lost sleep and calories were worth it.
We wandered the ruins for some time marveling at the craftmanship and location of the ruins perched on the mountain. If I were an Incan building MP I think I would have vetoed its location especially after carrying one stone up the mountain but we did appreciate it - it was truly breathtaking.
We had enough adventure/exercise for one day so we opted to ride the train to Ollantaytambo instead of walking the tracks. We spent the night there and visited the Inca Comlex ruins there - I was mostly impressed with how they moved the huge stones into place back in the day.
We had enough adventure/exercise for one day so we opted to ride the train to Ollantaytambo instead of walking the tracks. We spent the night there and visited the Inca Comlex ruins there - I was mostly impressed with how they moved the huge stones into place back in the day.
From there we caught some local transport back to Cuzco where we turned around and purchased an over night bus ticket to Puno where we will spend a couple days exploring the deep blue waters of Lake Titicaca.