Nice Fake ID Collection

Getting up ultra early we got our way down to one of Cusco's train stations to catch the early Backpacker train out to Aguas Calientes. Once on the train we lucked out and got a seat next to another one of those annoying people that just talk, talk, talk all the time. Why are we attracting these people! At 6AM in the morning the last thing you want to hear is a guy repeatedly laughing at his own jokes and crapping on all the time.

01 - San Pedro Train Station

Arriving in Aguas Calientes we walked past the neat, orderly row of touts pushing their hostel or hotel and headed to the main square. We decided to stay at a place called Hospedaje las Bromelias and were wrapped it had an awesome hot shower. We hadn't had a really hot shower in ages. One thing we'd noticed walking through town were the high prices. Machu Picchu appears to have turned into a tourist circus and is one of the most touristed place we've visited on our trip. They force you to buy an entrance ticket in town (by telling you you can't get them at the ruins) we paid the exorbitant tourist price and then bought an expensive one-way bus ticket for the next day. Our first impression was that Machu Picchu was a bit of a rip-off and we probably should have visited some of the lesser known ruins.

02 - Machu Picchu Train

At the ticket office we also saw a huge pile of confiscated fake student ID cards that backpackers had tried to use to get the cheaper student entrance price. As we handed over around 300 Sols for our tickets we couldn't blame them for trying!

03 - Train in Aguas Calientes