Machu Picchu

The day had finally arrived to go to one of the biggest highlights of the trip. Most people we spoke to were a lot more organized than us and had already booked their train tickets and tours to get to Aguas Calientes - the jumping off point for Machu Picchu. We ended up booking a more unconventional, though becoming increasing popular route, to get to the famous remote site. Instead of paying for the more expensive train, we opted to have a small bus take us up through the mountains through various little villages, that would eventually drop us off at the Hydroelectric station where is the last point vehicles can go. At 7:30am on the Saturday, the mini bus picked us up and the Machu Picchu adventure started!

Right away we picked up another couple from Sweden/England whom we hit it off with and ended up doing most of the adventure with. It took almost 1.5 hours to finally get out of Cusco, already setting us off pace. The first part of the drive what was we´d done the day before on the Sacred Valley tour, right to Ollantaytambo. That´s when the drive started to get crazy. Upon leaving Ollantaytambo we immediately hit dirt road off and on, and then finally back to concrete where we started to climb - high! 1.5 hours of switchbacks led us to a mountian pass that was at 4,350 metres - that´s over 14,000 feet! The views were absolutely spectacular, although their lack of guard rails and adequate space for 2 lanes somewhat frightening. There´s also bike tours you can do from the peak riding down the other side, so the road made even more sketchy by the hundreds of cyclists in random packs swerving all over the roads! This traffic also set us back on our schedule. We finally made it to a small town called Santa Maria where we had a quick lunch, and then set off on the final bus portion of the journey.

If we thought the first part was sketchy, this part brought a whole new meaning to the word. Not quite the same heights as the mountain pass, but dirt roads, with NO room for 2 lanes, NO guard rails, and mere INCHES between the road and 3,000 feet down. Wow, is all I can really say about this in written text. After 1.5 hours of fearing for our lives, we made it to the Hydroelectric station. From here, you can catch a train, but we were to trek the last 10kms into Aguas Calientes. We were looking forward to this part, as it is a beautiful flat hike along the train tracks, although with all our delays, we were about 3 hours behind schedule, which only gave us about an hour left of daylight. We foolishly did not bring our headlamps, so the group of us set off right away, walking at a good pace to make time. Darkness did settle quickly though, and I was very, very thankful for the flashlight app on my iPhone! After much confusion, we finally made it to Aguas Calientes after rounding a corner, and were greeted with a phenomenal silhouette of the valley we were in, the dim lights of the small town in the distance, and more stars than I´ve ever seen on any camping night in our own Rocky Mountains. A very welcoming site!

We and the other couple found our guide, Edgar, at last (aren´t guides supposed to GUIDE you on treks? hmmm...), and settled down to celebrate our adrenaline filled journey with several grand cervesas while waiting for the included dinner. After that we received our tickets to Machu Picchu, then were off to bed.

The next day, Sunday, started at 4:30am, as we were to meet our guide, Edgar, at the bus ticket booth to get our tickets for the ride up. Needless to say we weren´t feeling up to walking 3,000 steps at 5am! The bus got us up there super fast, and with all our tickets pre-arranged, we were sitting on the perfect vantage point, just at the top of the small hike in, with our new friends, on a miraculously clear morning, to watch the sun rise over magical Machu Picchu. Words cannot describe the energy we felt that morning!! :D:D:D

We relaxed here for a few more minutes to take it all in, snap a bajillion photos of the postcard picture of the face of Machu Picchu, and waited for Edgar. Somehow it ended up being just the 4 of us on a private, English speaking tour by this awesome Quechua speaking Incan descendant, and we couldn´t have asked for more out of the next 3 hours. Edgar told and showed us so many amazing things about this already mystical place that our tour really would have been worth triple what we paid. He told us all about the symbols, meanings, secrets and ways of the Inca people when Machu Picchu was in it´s heyday, and pointed out so many little things throughout the ruins that none of the other tours seemed to be getting. The sun was shining with not a cloud in the sky all day, and being there so early, we got through most of the ruins before the real crowds set in. We really honestly couldn´t have asked for more.

After the tour, we split from our new friends as they were catching the train back that day, while we headed out of the site for a lunch and bathroom break. We headed back in for another hour or two in the afternoon, sitting on the top of the agricultural fields overlooking the whole site and enjoying the sun. This place has such a comforting calmness about it that makes it really hard to leave! Eventually the effects of such an early morning started to set in, and we started down the stairs backs towards Aguas Calientes. 3,000 stairs and 2 hours later we were back in our hostel, changing our sweaty gear as quickly as we could to head out for a much needed pizza! After refueling we went to check out the Hot Springs, hence the name of the town - Aguas Calientes means hot water. They were, well, hot springs by the definition, but compared to some of the secret hot spots we´ve discovered in our own British Columbia, it was hard to compare to these ones. 4 levels of pools - cold, luke warm, a little warmer, and the niños pool - with local males packed in shoulder to shoulder :S There´s no seats, rock bottoms, and on us tall Canadians the water only came up to my mid-belly and Colin´s waist. Still cool to say we´ve been, though! We grabbed another snack, and then were sleeping like babies shortly after.

The next morning we slept in a little bit, then went in search of some bacon and eggs - something we were told we would miss on our travels, as they just don´t do breakfast here like they do at home. This has turned out to be very, very true, although we did find something close to satisfy for the time being. We knew we needed to fill up, as we were doing the return journey back to Cusco over the same trek/bus route, and besides our snacks we packed weren´t sure if we were going to eat again until night time. It´s a good thing we did, as the next few hours were not exactly pleasant!

We started the 10km trek back to the Hydroelectric station in good time, and this time in the daylight, enjoyed it immensely. It also turns out that this trek takes you all around the mountain that Machu Picchu sits on. Super cool, as even when you know it´s there, you can´t see it, only recognize the rock formations! I loved this "secret" part of it and took way too many pictures of the same thing. We made it to the Hydroelectric station right at 2pm, when we were supposed to meet Edgar again to get our bus back to Cusco. This is when things went downhill. After getting rude or no answers from all the other gruff looking men with buses hanging about, Edgar finally showed up 20mins later. He then started arguing with the drivers, not a good sign, and then finally told us to get on a bus - a much smaller, and much more uncomfortable one than the way out. We thought things seemed fishy, but trusted Edgar. He gave us one final wave and took off. As soon as he did, two other drivers started yelled at us to get off the bus. We refused, but after one of the other travellers explained it was to accommodate a large family who wanted to stick together, we reluctantly, agreed. What else can you do when you don´t speak the language, and the other backpackers are saying to do it too? As soon as we did we realized it was a mistake, and long story short, ended up on a crappy, extremely uncomfortable bus with all the stragglers who didn´t pre-book transportation, with the drivers trying to charge us. We stood our ground this time, said we were not paying, nor getting off the bus, and somehow, after the longest anxiety ridden 7 hours of the entire trip so far, made it back to Cusco at 9:30pm. We grabbed some comforting McDonalds as were were starving and brain-dead, bought some cervesas back at the hostel, and breathed big sights of relief that we were back in our bed safe and sound.

Definitely some ups and downs to this adventure, but in the end, all was well, and we had the extremely lucky pleasure of seeing one of the most magical Wonders of the World, on a clear, sunny day, with eachother :)

Start of the trek to Aguas Calientes

Shot of the University at Machu Picchu

The Temple at Machu Picchu

Sunrise!! :)

Llamas at attention on the east agricultural section of Machu Picchu

Us and our new friends, Devina and Andre, early morning at Machu Picchu

Classic Machu Picchu shot - the face, and classic llama

Soft baby llama

:)

Edgar, our amazing guide

VIew from Machu Picchu of the trek below we did to get to Aguas Calientes

The "back" of Machu Picchu from the trek

Train going by on the trek

There´s so many more photos we could have posted, but due to computer loading abilities, we tried to choose the best. Cheers to spiritual Peruvian adventures, as the next part of our journey now takes us into Bolivia!!